Branded Page 4

  Even though I’d showered—twice—I still felt like I smelled like horseshit. I hadn’t won the contest. Mainly because Cole had taken off his shirt and distracted me. That was so not fair.

  And he’d known it.

  But when he’d found out his sister had been invited to the formal, he’d given in to the afternoon off. He’d even offered to drive us, which was kind and a bit hellish. It was really hard for me to keep my eyes off him. He’d changed into a black T-shirt. The cotton was tight over his biceps, reminding me of the night he’d caught me in his arms. I squirmed in my seat.

  Thank God Adina sat between us, or I might have made a fool of myself jumping across the seat to get a better whiff of the pine scent teasing me on my side of the truck.

  Why did I always like guys who had absolutely no interest in me? It was definitely a pattern.

  We’d already stopped at the feed store, and it was worth the aches in my muscles to have Martin, the owner, tell Cole and Adina that I could lift fifty-pound feed bags with the best of them.

  I felt ever so vindicated.

  Cole promised we could do a little shopping. I was taking my new friend Ads to the mall to see what kind of stuff she liked. When we’d been in the barn, I’d tried asking Cole what his sister’s interests were, but he’d been kind of a jerk.

  “You don’t need to shop for her. We may not have a lot, but she has everything she needs,” he’d said after I’d sent Ads to the house to shower and change.

  “Jesus, Cole. Of course she does. You’re doing a great job of taking care of her. But sometimes, girls just want to be girls. I’m not buying her affection, but I thought maybe something shiny for the dance might make her happy.”

  “Shiny?”

  I’d thrown the rag I’d been using to polish tack onto the workbench. “As in jewelry. I’m sure you’ve bought some for the three thousand girls you’ve dated.”

  “No.”

  “No?” I’d asked.

  “I’ve never bought a girl jewelry.”

  I’d chuckled. “But you have dated a few thousand?”

  He’d shrugged.

  “Man whore.”

  “So wrong for those words to come out of your mouth.”

  “Man whore.”

  “Maybe, but I prefer the term ‘player.’”

  “So very nineties of you.”

  “For a princess, you aren’t very benevolent.”

  “I am, to the subjects who adore me.”

  “I’m sure there are many of those,” he’d said as his gaze narrowed on my face.

  “Yes, just loads,” I’d joked. “Catering to my every whim. You should try it sometime. Then I could be benevolent to you. Shower you with lovely bright shiny things.”

  Something had flashed in his eyes. “I don’t want anything from you.” Then he’d turned and stalked out of the barn.

  Rude. What the hell had that meant?

  Now here we sat, in the truck with Ads, otherwise known as Magpie, chirping between us.

  Cole pulled into the mall parking lot and dropped us off at the door to Nordstrom. “I’m going to park the truck. I’ll meet you inside.” The lot was full, and he’d probably have to park at least a mile away. I felt bad.

  “We could just call you when we’re done. I’m sure you have better things to do than follow us around the mall.”

  He glanced through the window at Adina. “No. I need to be here with her. It’s pretty crowded.”

  He was worried about his little sister.

  “Dude, she’s sixteen.”

  “Almost sixteen, and she’s all I’ve got. And I don’t like the idea of you two being in there alone. Crime happens. I’ll text Ads when I get inside to see where you are.”

  Shrugging, I slammed the door shut.

  “Your brother is very protective,” I told Ads, looping my arm into hers as we entered the store.

  “Yep. Since Mom died, it’s been tough on him. And there was a boy I was dating who was bugging me, and now Cole thinks he has to always be my guardian angel. And then we both worry that— Oh, pretty.”

  We stopped at a display of dangling earrings. I wasn’t as into fashion as Bethany and Grandma, but even I had an appreciation of all things shiny.

  “What do you mean bugging you?”

  Ads’s hand paused on a pair of golden hoops with a tiny heart hanging from each. “These are cute.” She worried her lip with her front teeth.

  Damn. “I’m sorry. I’m so nosey sometimes. You don’t have to tell me.”

  “Uh. No. It’s just that. I’m kind of embarrassed about it.”

  I put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, you don’t have to share. Really. I’m sorry I pried.”

  “He slapped me,” she said softly. “Just once. I broke three fingers punching him in the nose.”

  Heart stoppage happened right there. She was so young and tiny. What kind of horrible fuckwad hit a girl, especially one as precious as Ads?

  “Good girl, for the punching.” I cleared my throat.

  “Cole taught me how to hit the right way, and a lot of other self-defense moves. Of course, that was about a month after he found out about what happened. My mom had to sit on him to keep him from going over and killing the guy. Like, tackle him and sit on him until he calmed down. If I hadn’t been worried Cole might murder him, it would have been funny. Like you said…he’s kind of protective.”

  “I’d have done the same thing. And I can show you some moves. My grandpa has that same protective gene as Cole. I’ve been taking Krav Maga since I was your age.”

  “Cool. That’s stuff the spies use. I checked into that. I’ve taken a lot of self-defense classes and kickboxing. Cole likes kickboxing, so that’s something I’ve picked up on.”

  I couldn’t blame her brother. I’d been honest when I said I’d have done the same thing. I’d only known her a day, but precious little Ads had wormed her way into my heart. She wasn’t like most almost-sixteen-year-olds who were so self-involved they rarely saw anyone outside their world.

  Hell, I’d been that way. At least to a certain extent. All I’d cared about in high school was making good grades. I didn’t date. I never had time for boys. I mean, I’d go to dances and stuff, but usually with my friends. Plus I went to a private girl’s school, so school dances had been a little different there.

  And this last semester at school, I’d lived vicariously through Bethany’s escapades with the opposite sex. There had been the occasional dorm or frat party, and I’d even hung out with a few guys. But nothing serious.

  There were women gossiping all around us as we walked into the nail salon. And then there was silence. All eyes seemed to be on Cole.

  “If he’s the kind of clientele they have here, I’ll be coming back every day,” a woman nearby whispered to her friend.

  Damn him. Why did he have to be so cute? And smell so fucking good. Today, he was the embodiment of those ads for jeans with all the sexy guys in it. He certainly didn’t scream “ranch hand.”

  Contradictions. He was full of them. While he might not look like a guy who worked on a ranch, I’d seen those strong, sinewy muscles in action earlier in the day. The man was not afraid of hard work. Then there was the stash of paperback books I’d seen in the corner of the barn, everything from Dickens to Tolstoy to Mark Henry. Grandma had mentioned he’d come from a tough background. But he was going to college, or had been, and was trying to make a better life for his sister. More than once when he’d been distracting me in the barn, I’d thought about what it would be like to have his hands on my body. To feel those calluses—

  “Callie?” Addy pulled me out of my thoughts.

  “Sorry, I was making a mental list.” Liar. “Let’s get our nails done.” I turned to Cole. “Are you going to hang around while we do this?”

  He nodded, no expression on his face.

  After what I’d discovered, I didn’t blame him.

  “Okay, but to save time, could you run some errands for m
e?”

  His eyebrows drew together, and his lips thinned into a straight line.

  I waved a hand. “She’ll be fine while we are in the salon. But I could use your help. What’s your number? I’ll text you the list.”

  When he stood there staring, I rolled my eyes. “Jesus, I promise I won’t sext you or anything, it’s just faster than me having to write everything down again.”

  Adina giggled behind me. “As if,” she whispered.

  His eyes narrowed, but he handed me his phone. I called my phone on it and then texted him the list. It was short. After handing him cash, he frowned again.

  “Just go get what I need. Please.”

  “You really are used to getting what you want, aren’t you, Princess?”

  “Yes, I am, Ranch Hand. And I said please. That should mean something.”

  The side of his mouth quirked up, and I thought he might smile, but he turned on his boot heel and headed in the other direction. When Ads and I turned to face the salon, most of the women there were watching Cole walk away.

  The man was smoking hot. I’d give him that. I just didn’t understand why he disliked me so much.

  …

  Two hours later, I had a fresh mani with light blue polish to match the dress I was wearing later. Abby’s nails were pink and sparkly. She’d grinned through the whole thing, and it was easy to see she’d never done anything like it.

  Cole sat in the front entry waiting for us, surrounded by shopping bags and women trying to catch his eye. He stood when he saw us.

  “Have you ever seen anything so pretty?” Abby waved her nails in front of her brother’s face.

  He cocked his head and examined her hands as if taking a real interest. “They’re very…what is that word you like to use, Ads? Shiny.”

  She laughed and threw her hands around her brother’s neck. “Thank you for letting me do this today. I know you had work.”

  Hugging her back, he stared down at her with such affection my breath caught. She could do no wrong in his eyes.

  “We better get these loaded into the truck. I need to get back to the ranch.” He scooped up the bags and we followed him out of the salon. I had to run to catch up with him.

  “Thanks,” I said, trying to take some of the bags from him. “I didn’t expect you to finish it all.”

  “I’ve got it. Like you said, it saved time for me to do it.”

  “Still, I’m grateful. I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot.” My fingers grazed his. As I pulled my hand back, he sucked in a breath. Jesus, was my touch that appalling to him?

  “I told you, I’ve got it.” He stormed ahead as if fire licked his heels. Whatever. Jesus, what a jerk.

  How could he be smiling at his sister one minute and giving me hell the next?

  “Cole doesn’t like shopping much,” Addy whispered beside me. “He doesn’t like places with a lot of people. And he’s never liked stuff. We didn’t have much growing up, but Mom would always get him a few things at Christmas. He’d give her a hard time about spending the money. He’s just not used to—”

  Princesses who spend more in a couple of hours than he probably does in a year. Why the hell do I care so much what he thinks of me?

  Obviously, he didn’t think I was worth his time. Fine. I’d ignore him.

  He opened the truck door to let us in and I caught a whiff of his scent.

  Yes. Ignore him. Like that’s going to happen.

  …

  I dropped my sister and Callie off at the house and headed straight for the barn. I had to stay away from her. That was the only way this would work. I’d make some excuse about having to hang out in the barn. Luckily, tonight was one of the parties and the family would be going to that, along with my little sister. I’d begged off, but Addy would be okay there at the club. There would be adults around. And as much as Callie drove me crazy, she seemed protective of my sister.

  I’d talk to Callie before the party and make sure she watched out for her. Though, that meant I’d have to be near her. Again. I’d had about all I could take already. It would be years before the image of her mucking out those stalls vanished from my brain, the way she bent over in those tiny things she called shorts.

  Damn things should be illegal.

  And she was no stranger to hard work. She’d mucked like a pro, and there was an art to it. Otherwise, you ended up with shit all over you. I’d learned that the hard way. And she’d lifted a fifty-pound bag of chicken feed and thrown it in the back of the truck like she’d done it a hundred times before.

  She wasn’t like the other rich girls I’d met in town, the ones who trolled the bars looking to get a little dirt under their nails. Perfectly long, pointy nails. Not short blue ones like she had. And she was innately kind. She liked making Ads smile, and my little sister had done more of that in the last twenty-four hours than she had in months.

  I just didn’t want Ads to get caught up in the fairyland stuff, because she and I lived in the real world. Still, I didn’t have the heart to take this night away from her, especially when she’d said she felt like a princess. When I left them up at the house, they were talking about updos. I had no idea what the hell that was.

  I was putting the last of the feed in the barn when Addy texted. Are you coming?

  Hell no. The last thing I needed was a country club dance. I’d been working since four a.m., and that was after only about two hours of sleep. A certain girl across the hall had kept me up thinking about her.

  Can’t. Heading out to the pasture to check on sick calf. Y’all go on without me. Too much work to do tonight, I texted back. That wasn’t a lie.

  :( At least come see me in my dress. I look like a real princess. Or at least one of those girls from Seventeen.

  What the hell was Seventeen?

  I’ll try.

  Wait ’til you see Callie. OMG she looks like a super model. I want to be her when I grow up. She’s so sweet and beautiful.

  And she had my sister wrapped around her little finger.

  I hated disappointing Ads, but the last thing I wanted to do was see Callie looking more beautiful.

  Shit. I was having a tough time making my dick behave as it was.

  I threw the vet kit in the back of the truck and headed out to the pasture where I didn’t have cell reception or the distraction of the hottest chick I’d met in a really long time.

  Chapter Five

  The country club party was different because I had a chance to see it through Adina’s eyes. While I saw a room full of people I’d rather not hang out with, she saw glittering lights and beautiful dresses. And the lobster…that girl could put it away. We even grabbed a box from the kitchen so she could take some to her brother. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that by the time we made it home, it would probably be cold and rubbery.

  After learning what had happened in her past relationship, I tried to make sure she only danced with the nice boys—not easy to find at the country club, but between my grandmother and I, we managed to steer her in the right direction.

  When people asked my grandparents about her, they both said she was family, which pretty much ended the conversation right there. No one ever questioned my grandparents. They’d helped build that country club—so Grandpa could play golf, basically—and one of the rules was that everyone be treated equally.

  It didn’t fucking happen that way. The richer you were, the more the management at the club catered to your every wish. But my grandparents did treat everyone as equals, so at least there was that.

  Ads was the belle of the ball with no shortage of dance partners. I’d had fun listening to her talk about the different boys, which she did the whole ride home. I’d also seen the kid washing the bar dishes trading smiles with her.

  It was fun to see all of it through someone who wasn’t so jaded. She’d even been invited to a couple of parties. I’d probably have to talk to her brother about that.

  He wasn’t going to be happy.


  Back at home, I changed into rolled flannel shorts and a T-shirt, but I was restless. Something had happened at the party that had made me wonder if I was on some kind of self-destructive mission to drive myself insane. One of my favorite people in the world, James, had been there. We went way back. He was the first friend I made when I came to live with my grandparents. After the car accident that had killed both my parents, everything was a blur, but I remember James talking to me about horses and baseball. He didn’t treat me like I was broken, and something in me appreciated that.

  His parents had several thousand acres of cattle ranch east of town, and my grandma and his mom were best friends. Every summer, James and I would play until we just passed out.

  Through the years, he’d become a confidant. We’d tell each other everything, up until a month before I left for college.

  He’d asked me out on a date. I’d thought he was nuts. Why would we ruin such a good thing? I told him that, and our friendship had been awkward ever since. There were times during the semester when I’d needed his shoulder. No one understood me like he did. So tonight, when he’d asked me out again, I said yes.

  I banged my head gently against the headboard. Why? Why? Why? It would only screw things up even more. Grabbing the remote, I flipped the channels on the flat screen hidden in a giant armoire. I must have hit the wrong button because suddenly I was looking at a shirtless Cole stacking hay on the far side of the barn. I’d forgotten some of the security feed was close circuited on the TV. I didn’t know that included the barn.

  The muscles working in his arms and back were enough to send heat through my body.

  Damn. Never in my life had I been so affected by a man. I’d had crushes on pop stars and actors, but no one else had caused my body to spontaneously combust. It was crazy, because he had absolutely no interest in me. He couldn’t get away from me fast enough.