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  Still, if he hadn’t been so arrogant, if he’d asked her not to go, she might not have ended up in The Stone Pony’s parking lot, staring over Johnny’s shoulder when Adam quietly stepped out of the darkness to pin her with a cold, hard glare that sent her stomach plunging.

  But if Adam Youngblood was a stubborn man, she was downright mulish.

  Rather than end the embrace she’d been trying to escape, she’d clung to Johnny as his lips left her mouth to glide down her neck.

  While Adam’s eyes narrowed to angry slits, something wicked rose inside her. She’d honed in on his anger and sharpening features and found herself responding to Johnny’s unwanted attentions as though she’d been eager to accept them in the first place while Adam’s bitter gaze drilled her.

  Her head tilted, giving her assent for Johnny’s lips and tongue to trail wetly down her neck. Her body relaxed against the wall he’d shoved her against, and she let him nudge apart her legs to rub the hard column of his cock against the apex of her thighs.

  Only after Adam had turned sharply away and melted into the darkness had she peeled her arms from around Johnny’s body and given him a shove to get him off her.

  He’d growled and taken her lips again, and she’d resorted to a trick her older brother had taught her in high school, slipping a hand between his legs to grasp his balls and twist.

  Johnny, cursing and bent at the waist, didn’t stop her as she left him braced against the brick wall.

  Coward that she was, she snuck away, clutching her purse to her chest. When she opened the door to her car, she found Adam sitting in the front seat.

  “I did warn you,” he said softly.

  Cass had felt small, dirty, and wished she could have pretended she didn’t care what he thought. She decided not to comment and stepped to the side as he unfolded from the seat.

  “A storm’s brewing,” he murmured. “I’d stay off that rock tomorrow.”

  She’d looked at the midnight sky. Where all the stars of the Milky Way should have shone, a dense blackness blanketed the sky.

  “I didn’t mean for anything to happen,” she whispered. “It was just a kiss…”

  One dark brow lifted in a derisive arch. “Long night. Must have found plenty to talk about.”

  “That’s all we did. Talk. Dance.”

  His face turned away from her.

  “Adam…”

  “Seems you made your choice.”

  Heartsick and filled with remorse for what she’d allowed to happen, she’d driven home where she’d showered and changed, and then made the decision to climb despite his warning.

  Anything not to dwell on his expression as he’d turned away. His jaw had been tight. Hatred had glittered in his dark eyes.

  Despite his prediction, she’d gone climbing the next morning anyway, desperate to escape her own reflection in the mirror. Only to meet with disaster. Adam her witness, again.

  Cass started her car to make another circuit around the park. Climbing hadn’t been the answer. She could have climbed Everest and not been able to escape her own misery.

  At the sight of Johnny’s white SUV grinding to a halt in front of the ranch house, Adam straightened in the saddle. “Javier, I’m calling it a day,” he muttered.

  He lifted his right leg over the saddle and slid to the ground, tossing his reins to his foreman. Without a backward glance, he strode toward the house.

  At Johnny’s bedroom door, he didn’t bother knocking. He opened it just as Johnny dragged his wet T-shirt over his head.

  Johnny shook his long hair and aimed a glare at Adam. “Ever consider knocking?”

  “Where were you today? Thought you were checking fences with Mitch. Funny thing was, he said you put him in charge and left.”

  Johnny shrugged. “I had some business in town to take care of.”

  Adam eyed his wet clothing and lifted one eyebrow.

  “What can I say?” Johnny tossed his wadded shirt toward the clothes hamper, and then gave Adam a smile. “The woman thought I needed to cool off. She’s all about the job when she’s got that sidearm strapped to her leg.”

  “You talking about Cass?” Adam asked, keeping his voice even.

  “The woman’s a firecracker,” his brother replied, flashing a brief, wolfish leer. “Looks like it’ll take both of us to keep her satisfied. Good thing I don’t mind sloppy seconds.”

  Adam didn’t think—he couldn’t because his head felt ready to explode. He took two steps closer and swung his fist at Johnny’s smiling face.

  Johnny landed on his ass next to the bed, rubbing his chin. “What was that for? I’m willing to share.”

  “Keep away from her.”

  “Why? You don’t want her. You can’t make her happy.”

  “Johnny, I’m warning you. Keep away. I’m not gonna step aside like I did with Pam.”

  “Pam was a horny bitch too. She liked stringing us both along.”

  Adam shook his throbbing hand. “Any time you want to sell me your half of the ranch…”

  “I’m not leaving. It’s my home too. Get used to it. And don’t tell me who I can fuck.”

  Adam jerked away, afraid he’d have to take another swing and wouldn’t be able to stop. He headed out of the house to cool off on the porch, cursing Johnny and wondering what had happened between him and Cass, whether he’d kissed her again, and if she’d let him do more. And how could he blame her?

  He’d left Cass wound tighter than a spring. He should know. They’d walked on the edge of arousal for weeks. Yesterday, he hadn’t been able to stay away—even knowing she’d betrayed him.

  While he hadn’t planned to have sex with her, she’d pushed him past his endurance when she’d stepped up on his truck and gotten in his face to plead with him.

  Smelling sweet but with that bulldog tilt to her chin, it had been all he could do not to yank her across his lap and kiss her right then and there.

  Instead, he’d driven away with her on a lame-ass excuse, anything to get her into his truck and alone. When she’d submitted to his demands so readily, he’d been surprised.

  Christ, the taste of her and the sweet sounds of her moans had stayed with him all night long. But so had the shattered look on her face when he’d withdrawn and demanded she dress.

  He didn’t want to care that he’d hurt her. Despite his brother’s taunts, and his own past experience, he believed her explanation. They needed to talk and get some things straight between them—and he needed to know what the hell had happened between her and Johnny today.

  Adam dug in his pocket for his keys, and then remembered if Johnny saw her at the park, she’d be working until late. Their conversation would have to wait until tomorrow because he didn’t want interruptions.

  His fists tightened, and he glanced back at the house, bitter regret washing over him that things remained so strained between himself and the only family he had left.

  For the sake of their relationship, he ought to just end things now with Cass, but he suspected Johnny wouldn’t stop there. His brother seemed determined to come between him and anyone he chose.

  It’s why he’d taken his time to get to know her. No use bringing a woman around who could be swayed by his brother’s easy charm.

  However, he should have warned her rather than letting her be used. Johnny didn’t give a damn about Cass. The only thing he cared about was taking away everything Adam cherished.

  Chapter 4

  Late afternoon the next day, Cass stood at the foot of a hoodoo, eyeing the bouldering pads she’d placed at the base of the rock to cushion a fall.

  She’d decided to try free climbing. The tall rock spire would provide the physical and mental challenge she needed to keep other thoughts at bay—ones that included sensual memories of heated kisses and invasive thrusts.

  At the moment, con
quering a pillar of stone seemed the lesser danger to her well-being.

  Already she’d scaled an inverted angle, using just her fingertips to hold her weight. The fingerless gloves kept the sweat on her palms from moistening her fingers. A dusting of white chalk gave added insurance.

  Because her hands ached, she planned a climb up a straight, sheer wall, supported with toeholds this time. The last climb she planned for the day and a short one. Once again, storm clouds threatened in the distance, and she’d learned her lesson.

  Footsteps sounded from around the corner of the spire where she stood, and she wondered if another climber, curious about her route or perhaps eager to join her, was coming.

  Any other day she would have enjoyed the company, but today, she sighed in resignation and cupped a hand over her eyes to watch the person’s approach.

  Her hand dropped to her side when she spotted Adam. “I’m off duty. You’ll have to take up your complaint with Brody James.”

  “I’m not here on ranch business.”

  “Well, then you’ve wasted a trip because we don’t have anything else to talk about.”

  His glance went to the dusty pads and up the side of the tall hoodoo. “A ropeless climb? I knew you were crazy, but this is insane.”

  “Trying it for the first time without pads and some practice would be insane.”

  “Have you fallen?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “That’s what the pads are for.”

  “Should you be doing this alone?”

  “I prefer to climb alone. And I know my limits.”

  “You could break your neck and no one would even know.”

  “I could fall in the shower and be just as dead. Who the hell would care?”

  Adam’s chest lifted with a deep breath. “Maybe I would.”

  “Maybes aren’t good enough for me,” she said flatly. “Not anymore.”

  Adam’s lips tightened, and then he blew out another deep breath and looked away. “Look, we need to talk.”

  “We’re talking,” Cass said, keeping her tone mild. “Mind if I head up while you get whatever you came to say off your chest?” She turned and sank a hand into the chalk bag hanging beside her right thigh and dusted both hands thoroughly before reaching up to grasp a rocky outcrop.

  Adam stepped forward and grabbed her wrist to draw it down and turned her body toward him. “I’ve got another idea,” he said, pulling her against him. “You don’t have anyone waiting on you at home. Johnny’s not going to show up at your doorstep because I sent him on an errand in Amarillo—I’m taking you home. My home.”

  Cass wrestled her hand away and took a step backward. “I don’t want to go. I’m set for another hour of climbing before I’ll be ready to leave.”

  “Who says you have a choice?” Adam growled.

  She shot both eyebrows upward. “You’re kidnapping me? Seems a little primitive.”

  “It’s an old family tradition. Only question is, are you going to make a big enough fuss that I have to retrieve rope from my truck and tie you up?”

  Cass had to admit that the thought of being his “captive” for the night was intriguing, as was the fact he didn’t seem willing to budge from this rock until he had his way.

  Still, the man had put her through hoops. He didn’t deserve to have her capitulate without giving him a good fight. “I don’t get it,” she said, bracing her hands on her hips. “Since you never called me after you had your fun the other day, I thought I’d be the last woman you’d ever want to be near again.”

  “I didn’t call because I had to work some things out. Then you had work, and so did I. There hasn’t been a good time.”

  There he went again—making it sound as though she was an inconvenience. “Next time, how about checking my schedule first before you plan on a kidnapping, because I already have plans.”

  Adam’s face suffused with angry color. “Do you always have to be so goddamn obstinate?”

  Cass huffed. “You’ve got some nerve. Like you’re the model of malleable.”

  “I’m warning you,” he ground out, “I’m not feeling very civilized.”

  Didn’t look it either. With his hair pulled back in a ponytail, a bleached-out cotton shirt and jeans hugging his solid body, he looked downright elemental, as primitive as he claimed. Just how far would he let her push him before he acted on his instincts?

  Cass raised the back of her hand to her forehead, and fluttered her eyelashes. “Why, sir, you shouldn’t say such things,” she said, in a deep southern accent. “You’ll make me swoon.”

  “Damn it, Cass.”

  She couldn’t seem to help herself. A delicious swell of rage and lust quivered through her. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Adam. I’ve wanted to talk to you for days, and guess what? I’m over that urge now.”

  Adam stepped closer, crowding her against the sharp-edged rock. “Are you?” He gripped her hips and lifted her high enough that the ridge of his thickening cock ground between her thighs. He pinned her with his hips grinding her into the rock, then slapped both palms against the wall above her head.

  Pressed so close she could feel his heart beat against her chest, she stared into angry black eyes. “What a surprise. Both Youngbloods like shoving a girl against a wall to have their way.”

  A breath billowed his chest and Cass clamped her lips together to stop goading him because his bronze skin darkened, and his features tightened into a feral mask.

  With a jagged edge digging into her back, she didn’t have room to fill her lungs with air. “This doing it for you?” she gasped. “’Cause I can tell you, all I’m getting is bruised.”

  “This goes a long way toward soothing my primal urges,” he drawled, his mouth hovering above hers.

  She grimaced, pretending those lips weren’t working on her urges as well. “You get ’em often?”

  His mouth came closer still. “Only when I’m near you.”

  “Oh,” she said, feeling a little faint. But whether from lack of air or the dark promise in his eyes, she wasn’t sure.

  His mouth slammed into hers, and Cass melted against the rock, gasping into his mouth as his tongue stroked inside hers in swirling laps that reminded her of how he’d made her come on the seat of his pickup.

  When he lifted his mouth, he asked, “Gonna let me kidnap you?”

  Adam watched one side of her lush mouth curve upward, and felt a heavy, sensual thrum course through his body. He had her now. Despite anything her mouth might say he could see the flare of hunger in her eyes.

  “You asking me if I want to be kidnapped?” she asked, in a tone thick with sarcasm. “Seems more like a date if you expect me to agree.”

  “Can’t give you any false signals,” he muttered, stepped back and dipped down, snaking an arm beneath her ass and then straightening.

  She didn’t fold over his shoulder the way he expected her to, not that she ever did the expected. Her body remained rigid as he approached his truck. He knew she was doing it just to be awkward. He had to admit her feistiness was a big part of her attraction.

  “Are you still mad about me kissing Johnny the other night?” she asked, her tone teasing.

  “Furious,” he replied, although a smile was beginning to tug at his lips. “But we’re not talking about it now.”

  “Because it doesn’t matter who I kiss?”

  “Cass…” he said, his voice rising on a warning. “Do you ever think before you open that pretty mouth of yours? You don’t provoke a man when he’s already committing a crime to get you where he wants you.”

  “You want me in your truck?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m kidnapping you to my truck.” Rounding the corner with her, he headed down the trail to the dirt parking lot where he’d left his vehicle. The trek wasn’t long, but the sun was beating
down, and while she was slender, she was also muscular—not as light as he’d expected. Not that he was in the mood to listen to complaints. There were sexier sounds he longed to hear, and soon.

  “What’s this about ancient tradition?”

  “It’s a Comanche thing. We raid to get women.”

  “Wouldn’t think you’d need to resort to that.”

  “Believe me, I’m not hard up. But you’re a special case.”

  “I’m special?” she said, sounding happy. “Sounds serious.”

  “Cass…”

  “Yes?”

  “Shut up or I’ll get the duct tape out of the glove box and make it official.”

  “Gonna bind my hands?”

  The little witch sounded excited at the prospect. “No, that pretty mouth of yours.”

  “You think my mouth’s pretty?”

  “I say that?” he teased.

  “Uh-huh. Twice.”

  His truck was parked beside hers, and he dropped her into the front seat and held out his hands for her keys.

  “Think I’m just gonna sit here while you lock up for me? And what about my gear? It’s not cheap.”

  Adam groaned, and then popped open the glove box and reached inside for the roll of tape.

  Her eyes widened.

  So she hadn’t believed him? Good. He didn’t want her too confident. He grabbed her hands and raised them above her head, and then used the duct tape to strap her wrists to the gun rack behind her head. When he finished, he stood back and grinned.

  Her lips were flattened, her eyes shooting daggers his way.

  “Should have kept your mouth shut,” he said, shaking his head. Then he loped back up the trail to gather her pads and gear.

  When he returned, her head was resting on the headrest which arched her back. The soft outline of her breasts jutted outward, and Adam felt that same dark satisfaction he had the day on the cliff. He could do whatever he wanted with her, and she’d be helpless to resist.

  There must have been more of his ancestor’s blood racing through him than he’d ever imagined—or maybe it was just the woman.