Jill Limber - Captivating A Cowboy

She hadn’t made close friends except for Lynn, and she lived in New York now. When she’d been sent to live with her grandmother after her parents died, she’d resented being yanked from her home and friends in L.A. and been pretty much of a loner all through high school.

The only person who came to mind was Betty, Lynn’s mother. She’d heard Betty was off visiting her son in New Mexico.

“No.” Darn him. At least now she was so angry she no longer felt like crying.

“Come on,” he said briskly, urging her up the stairs. “Things are going to look much better when you get a little sleep.”

Julie didn’t think she had ever met a guy who seemed to relish being in control the way Tony did. It rankled. She was used to taking care of herself.

Most of the time.

A little voice in her head reminded her she wasn’t doing such a good job.

Her collarbone ached and her stitches burned. Lacking the energy to fight him any longer, she gave in and let him lead her into her old bedroom.

The chair lay there on its side, surrounded by the ledgers.

“What do you sleep in?” he asked matter-of-factly, ignoring the mess.

“There’s a nightshirt in the top dresser drawer.”

He left her side to rummage through the drawer and came up with a pink flannel nightshirt with the words Uppity Woman scrawled across the front in red. “This?”

She nodded and he laid the shirt over his arm and came back to stand in front of her. With sure fingers he unbuckled the strap around her middle that held the sling close to her body.

“I’m going to take the sling off. I need you to do nothing. Concentrate on keeping your arm perfectly still, okay?”

Julie nodded. That shouldn’t be hard. It hurt when she moved even a little.

He slipped the sling off. “You doing okay?”

“Yes.” For all his muscles he had a gentle touch.

“Now I’m going to unbutton your shirt.” His big hands were quick with the buttons.

For the second time today he had his hands inside her blouse, she thought. It was getting to be a habit.

He slid the shirt off her left shoulder and eased it over her left arm, past the wide elastic bandage covering her stitches.

“Now, let me do all the work here. You just think about holding still.” He slid the shirt off her right shoulder and eased it down her arm.

She sighed when he had it off. He had such warm, careful hands. Slick as a whistle, he hadn’t hurt her at all. She glanced down to see her nipples puckering through the blue satin of her bra. She wanted to be as cool about this as he was, but her body wasn’t cooperating.

Keeping his eyes on her face as if he couldn’t be bothered to look at all the skin he’d just uncovered he said, “Turn around.”

His voice sounded low and husky.

He wasn’t quite as detached after undressing her as he’d like her to believe. Good, because she wasn’t detached at all. Obediently she turned.

He stood so close behind her she could feel the heat of his body on her bare back.

He unclasped her bra and slid the straps down her shoulders, over her elbows and her hands, then dropped it like it was a poisonous snake.

Her heart thudded in her chest. What was wrong with her? She barely knew the man and she wanted to feel his hands on her.

It must be the pain medication.

“You’re doing fine.” His breath feathered the hair behind her ear.

She shivered.

“Cold?” He reached around her from behind to slide her right arm into the sleeve. The back of his hand grazed her bare breast.

He cleared his throat. “You’ll be covered up in just a minute.”

She was anything but cold. He brought the shirt behind her back and gently eased the fabric over her stiff elbow.

“Okay, turn around.” Hands on her shoulders again, he turned her toward him.

She looked up into his face as he did up her buttons and had the oddest sensation of being a desirable woman and a cared-for child all in the same moment.

He eased her into the sling and strapped her up, then stepped back. “There. All set.” He was back to his matter-of-fact tone again.

She kicked off her shoes. Julie wanted to hear the husky desire in his voice she’d heard before.

A little devil in her made her say, “Help me with my jeans?” Besides, she thought, how was she going to get the snug denim off without help?

She could see beads of sweat on his upper lip just before he leaned over and fumbled under her nightshirt for the fastener on her pants. His position gave her a great view of his hair, thick, dark and slightly wavy.

He eased the zipper down, hooked his thumbs into the waistband and slid the denim over her hips. She could feel the trail of heat down her body left by the touch of his hands.

He backed up and heaved a sigh as she stepped out of her pants.

“Anything else?” He rubbed the heel of his hand over his chest as if he was in pain.

Julie looked down at her bare toes, hiding a smile. Just one more thing before she let him off the hook. “Ah, my, ah…panties.”

She glanced up at him and swore she saw his eyes cross for an instant. It was all she could do not to smirk.

“Sure.” His voice was gruff. He reached up and hooked his work-roughened fingers over the elastic and slid the satin down her legs.

Satisfied he had been punished enough for being so controlling, she kicked the panties over with her jeans. “Thanks.”

He skirted around her as if she was on fire and pulled the covers down on the bed. “Get in. I’ll go get you a glass of water.”

He pulled her prescription of pain pills out of his shirt pocket and smacked the bottle down on the bedside table before he left the room.

Awkwardly Julie scooted under the covers. She lay back against the pillows and thought about what she’d just done. It was petty to harass Tony like that, but people who thought they knew best annoyed her. Plus, she was so angry at herself for fouling up all her summer plans she’d taken out her anger on him.

She supposed she needed to apologize, but she didn’t know how to do that without embarrassing both of them.

One more thing she would have to deal with in the morning, she thought as her eyes slid closed.

Tony came back with a glass of water and found Julie had fallen asleep. He pulled the covers up to her shoulders, turned out the overhead light and switched on a small lamp on the dresser across the room.

He wasn’t going to wake her up to give her a pill to make her sleep.

He didn’t want her awake.

Getting her undressed had been harder than most of the missions he’d been on for the Navy.

He picked up the scattered ledgers and righted the chair. Then he draped her jeans and shirt over the chair, along with the blue bra and matching panties. Her clothes were still warm and smelled like her. With a groan he settled into an overstuffed chair and watched her sleep. She looked so young and innocent lying there.

Hah, he thought. About as innocent as Eve when she teamed up with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

And he wanted a bite of the apple.

The woman knew just what caliber ammunition she carried. She thought it was safe to mess with his head because she’d been injured.

She was right.

There was time, and Tony was a patient man. She needed him because she wouldn’t be able to work on this place for weeks. By the time he had the house in shape and Julie had mended, he planned to show her what happened when you played with fire.

Tony dozed off with a smile on his face.

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