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I came up behind her and slid my arms around her. She stiffened but didn't protest. I rested my chin on her head.
"Stay the weekend," I coaxed. "I'll buy—"
"You'll not buy me anything, period."
I kissed her hair, feeling, for some reason, an urge to console her. This woman was tearing me apart. I wanted to protect her and take care of her, and I wanted her gone because she was not good for my self-preservation. I'd gone off on Clay half-cocked because I was jealous. I'd never felt this way before, especially over a woman. I didn't give a fuck what any woman I was with did. It used to annoy women I was with that I wasn't possessive. But with Isha, a woman I barely knew, seeing another man close to her ignited the raging bull within me.
I turned her to face me. Her face was impassive.
"I'm sorry," I finally said.
Her eyes narrowed.
"I'm jealous of Clay…of Ace. I've never felt like this before, and I'm not handling it well." I'd never revealed this much about myself to anyone. That the words slid out of me with such ease was a warning sign that being with this woman was like playing with fire.
"You have no right to be jealous."
I leaned to brush my lips against hers, softly, a whisper, barely there, and felt my entire being still with the rightness of the gesture. I wanted to claim her mouth, her, but I knew I wasn't ready for that. If I took this woman, I was afraid I'd combust.
She pushed me away from her with a strength that surprised me.
"Don't ever do that again."
"I am sorry…not for kissing you, but for what I said. I never apologize, Isha. And I just did twice."
She looked at me for a long moment. She licked her lips and turned her back to me. I thought I'd lost her until I heard her quietly say, "I'll see you at dinner."
Chapter 7
Isha
Istayed the weekend, and then the following week. After his apology, Rowan became a model citizen, and even Ace started behaving decently. With Deb off to New York and Caitlyn absent, the tension in the ranch house noticeably eased.
When Caitlyn was around, her visits were brief, and I suspected Ace was still trying to win her back. I'd advised him to simply tell her how he truly felt, instead of continuing with this foolish charade, but he insisted that Caitlyn wouldn't respond well to that approach.
"She already thinks I'm a wimp compared to Ro, I don't think I'll help my case by telling her I made up a girlfriend to make her jealous."
But the main reason I didn't leave was because I was having fun…finally. I'd been to an American country fair, I'd gone on a hayride, eaten the best barbecue ever, and was finally having the holiday Ace had promised me.
Rowan showed me his ranch, taking me riding, which was both pleasure and pain because we were living on some sexual edge, not giving in but not staying away, either.
The Ledger Ranch, I'd learned, was in what was called the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness that sprawled across southern Montana and part of Wyoming. The area was vast, and a lot of the untouched landscape was epitomized by rugged, wild beauty, and dominated by dramatic mountains, including Granite Peak, Montana's highest at over 12,800 feet. In the past week, I'd seen a lot of the area that was a mosaic of alpine meadows, deep forests, and clear ice-water lakes.
One morning during breakfast, Rowan suggested getting me back in the saddle.
Ace cocked an eyebrow. "You're going to let her ride her own horse?" he wondered.
My eyes widened. "Really?"
Rowan smiled indulgently. "Sure. But I'll hold the reins, just in case. It isn't too far. Ace, you coming along?"
Ace looked at his watch and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Isha, I…I have an appointment."
He was probably seeing Caitlyn, and I hated that he felt he had to pretend I'd feel bad about it. I wish he'd come clean, at least with Rowan, but he was adamant that he wanted it to be a secret. In any case, I didn’t want to get drawn into his drama with his brother when I was here for just another few days.
“No problem. You do you,” I said, using my favorite American idiom.
Rowan didn’t comment even though I’d expected him to. He seemed almost pleased that Ace was making himself scarce.
