Cattleman Read online

  Her father’s elderly lawyer had announced that the codicil, upon Julie’s twenty-first birthday, bequeathed to her a specific fifty acres of land, the most valuable land of the entire Bradley’s vast holdings. The problem was that this land encompassed the mountains from which flowed the largest streams for most of the county. While these were undoubtedly important, her father had hired a geological survey of the flat land and discovered two vast underground aquifers, which were the land’s true value. These huge sources also fed the smaller creeks and wells for the Morgan ranches, both Jim’s and his father’s.

  Following the reading of the will, she had felt a change in everyone’s attitude. The water rights had always been considered gratis between the two families when her father was still alive, and no one had ever considered anything else since then. But considering the animosity between Julie and Jim, the questionable water rights might dry up, so to speak.

  How or why the friction between the two of them started was unknown, to almost everyone. No one had paid any attention because they were always polite and courteous to each other in public, never involving anyone else in their squabbles. Yet the equation had been changed with her father’s will, and the only constant was that Julie was not constant.

  She had begun to feel as if she were a pawn to be bargained with, and risked and lost, if need be. Not that anyone else had seen it as such, but because of her feelings for Jim, she could not help but feel any other way. Things had appeared to be lining up that way to her. Upon her return, it had become clear that her dreams of “returning to normal” weren’t going to happen. Not only did her mother disapprove of her working on the ranch, so did her brothers. Wearing a dress and doing household things was not what she’d lived those three years for. In the back of her mind, she had suspected that people were looking at her to marry soon. So why let her get involved in anything here at the Bradley ranch?

  Then all of a sudden Nick had stopped hinting and one day just flat out said, “If she would just marry Jim, then everything would be settled and go back to normal.” Of course, she had overheard him speaking to her brothers at the time, in the ranch office. But, nevertheless, how she learned of it didn’t alter what she now believed had been everyone’s thoughts and plans.

  That had done it. She packed her bags—well, actually just one was all she could handle riding a horse—and after leaving a note for her mother, she had left in the middle of the night. Thinking back on it all now, nine years later, it had been a foolhardy thing to do. She had ridden cross-country for several hundred miles. Then she had stabled her horse, cabled her family before boarding the train to let them know she was fine and where the horse was and caught the train north. She had arrived at her great-aunt’s home in San Francisco almost two days after her midnight flight from her home, like a thief in the night.

  Her great-aunt Tillie, after hugging the breath out of her and sending one of her servants to send a cable to her nephew Jason’s family, had spent the next two hours yelling at her. But things had finally settled down. And so, she had become her aunt’s traveling companion for the next nine years of her life. For the first eight years, she had seen sights and lands she had never thought she would see. They had traveled through most of Europe’s main cities. In between trips to Europe, her aunt took her on explorations of the east coast of the states.

  One time they had gone to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. And then most recently, as a birthday present, her aunt had booked them on a cruise along the Nile River. She had become quite cosmopolitan over the years, and a very seasoned traveler. But then, last year, she returned for her youngest brother, Gerry’s, wedding. She and her great-aunt had come for the festivities. It was to be a very gay and fun-filled week or so of parties and preparations before the actual ceremony took place. But it hadn’t taken long for things to go very, very wrong.

  Shaking her head to clear her thoughts—as if that could help, Julie acknowledged with a wry grin—she resumed watching the party. She was lying to herself. It wasn’t the other people that she’d been watching, or rather waiting, for. Then she saw him.

  His mount acted a bit skittish, but the man easily and deftly controlled his temper. Maybe she was imagining things, but he looked even better than he had last year! His dark hair was hidden by his cowboy hat, but no other man could look like that. Not one of the attractive young men in Boston had come close to making her body come alive the moment she saw him, even fifty yards away.

  As usual he was the last to arrive at the Fourth of July party. Jim never hurried; everything he had always done had been well thought out and paced to be completed on time. But today, she overheard when she arrived, there had been a problem with one of the outlying fences, and since it was a holiday, he had gone to repair it rather than send one of his men.

  People always came to him these days; perhaps that was another reason he had no cause to hurry. People were always adapting to his schedule and his way of doing things. Everyone deferred to Jim, or everyone except for her. She watched him silently from across the open green lawn. She was standing near the corner of the house, just looking at him. She had to laugh because here it was his party, at his own lush, almost palatial-style mansion, and the host was late, just like he’d been late for her birthday party.

  She couldn’t hear his words as he moved through the milling crowds, greeting nearly everyone he passed and easily moving from the role of well-trained ranch hand to that of the polite, urbane and gracious host. Julie was sure that everyone smiled at him. No one would ever dream of chastising him, not even his own mother, for being late to his own party. Good gracious, no! Those in attendance, who had not grown up being friends with his family, now, owed their livelihood to him in one way or another.

  His family, like hers, had been one of the wealthiest in the area. Yet Jim had struck out on his own, diversifying, and he now owned many of the buildings in town, as well as being the largest shareholder and investor in several private businesses. His wealth was vast and ever growing. He owned the largest and most profitable ranch in the state. While Jim may have started his ranch with cattle, and currently owned the largest herd in California, he was no longer just a “cattleman.”

  His house was nearly ten years old now and decorated expensively. When she’d first seen it, at her twenty-first birthday party, there was quite a bit of it unfinished. Last year, on her first trip home since that party, she’d been more than a little surprised at how it looked finished. It would have been more fitting in the city of San Francisco than out here in the country.

  Suddenly, Jim stopped mid-sentence and turned, looking directly to where she had been staring at him just a split second before. Julie gasped as she propped herself against the side of the house. She had ducked out of sight right before he had seen her. Yes, she was sure that she had moved before there had been any chance of him catching her. That was the last thing she wanted, for him to see her watching him. She could not bear to see the knowing look of assurance, mocking her, which would cover his handsome face at that bit of knowledge. For years she had ignored him, tolerated him, as they were all growing up as children, then curious teens and finally as young adults.

  She pressed her hand against her heaving breasts, which unfortunately were barely confined by her low-cut summer frock of blue gingham check. She felt as if she had run a mile and not just scooted a few steps to hide. With her other hand, she shoved back her nearly shoulder-length, tousled red curls. She couldn’t believe that she had been staring at him, let alone almost getting caught in the act of doing so. Reluctantly she acknowledged that the real fact her heart was racing had nothing to do with embarrassment at all and absolutely everything to do with her desire for him.

  * * * * *

  Jim Morgan finally turned back to the guests he had been speaking with, but it didn’t take him long to make a plausible excuse. He moved a bit haltingly, the slight limp slowing him down as he crossed the lush green lawns. He knew that many of his guests watched him surrept
itiously, but he disdained their pity. His leg had healed better than any of the specialists his mother had badgered him into seeing had ever thought possible. But then they had not counted on his personal strength of character and determination of spirit. At least he had kept his leg, which his own local doctor had doubted was even possible in the beginning.

  He rounded the corner of his house and, yes, he had been right. There was Julie Bradley. Her character and looks had enthralled him most of his life. And time had not dared dim the beauty he saw. Even as they both grew older, Julie always looked the same, and still more appealing, each time he saw her. He had liked her, briefly detested her, had a crush on her and then lusted after her at different stages in his life. Now when he looked at her, he wasn’t sure what he felt. Before him stood the woman whose impetuous actions had nearly cost him his leg a year ago.

  Jim watched her face, with its smooth porcelain-like skin where not a freckle or blemish dared to mar such perfection. He remembered how he and Nick had teased her mercilessly one time when she was around sixteen and gotten a single pimple to disrupt the smoothness of her skin. The way she ranted you’d have thought it was small pox. As far as kidding her went, Julie fought back like a wild cat.

  He knew her eyes were the bluish-green of the ocean, even though her lids remained closed as she leaned back against his house. He watched her breathe, slowly and deeply, as if trying to control her emotions. Her hand was pressed to her full breasts. He knew precisely how wonderful those lovely round breasts felt in his hands. He could so easily recall each and every time he’d seen her bountiful bosom. And every time he remembered how her nipples would tighten and pearl up in his hot sucking mouth, his body demanded action. He knew he could wait no longer.

  “Julie.”

  * * * * *

  She nearly jumped out of her skin hearing her softly spoken name. She nervously pushed her hair back, forgetting that in doing so, she revealed the scar that trailed down her neck and onto her left shoulder. It was a constant reminder of her carelessness a year ago that had caused the accident they were both in. She had come away from it in much better shape than he had. At least physically she had come away better; emotionally she didn’t think so. She ran her sweaty palm down her dress before she held it out to him in greeting.

  “Hello, Jim.” Her voice cracked a bit as she nervously greeted him. Dear Lord, she thought to herself, a year had passed since the accident and just the sight of him, the simple sound of his voice saying her name, brought her to near-panic state. But she was determined not to show how he affected her. For so many years growing up she had pretended not to care what he thought of her.

  Then, a year ago, everything had changed. So she stuck her hand out now, a bit defiantly perhaps, to prove she still didn’t care. She saw the disdain in his dark eyes as he glanced for a brief moment at her outstretched hand. But like a mouse helplessly enthralled within the hypnotizing stare of a snake, she couldn’t move to pull her hand back. She gasped, though, when his own strong hand grabbed her wrist, and in one smooth movement, he jerked her forward and into his muscular arms.

  Jim barely moved under the impetus of her body hitting his own. His arm wrapped around her back while the other hand threaded through her hair and held her tightly against him. His dark eyes bore into her startled blue ones, his mouth just a bare inch from her own. His voice was deep, scratchy with closely held emotion, as he asked her moments before he claimed her mouth, “Don’t you think the man you gave your virginity to last year deserves more than just a handshake, my sweet?”

  Julie struggled for perhaps two seconds, and then she succumbed to the same inexplicable, yet incredible, ecstasy he had aroused in her a year ago. For what seemed countless moments, she kissed him back, lip-to-lip, one hungry mouth devouring another. His tongue eagerly sought hers while she longingly stroked his. When his large palm cupped her full right breast, her moan of desire was caught and swallowed by his seeking, hot mouth.

  It was Jim who pulled back for a brief second, his hand tangled in her curls. “Tell me, my sweet, do you still shave that sweet pussy of yours like you learned over in Europe?” Before she could gasp, or even form an answer, he was again taking her mouth with his own. The sound of a voice in the near distance caused Jim to step back from her abruptly a few seconds later. He had to reach back out to steady her for a second, though, as she stumbled without his support.

  Her eyes opened slowly, regaining a sense of where she was. She looked into his piercing gaze. For a moment, they were alone in the world. Nothing else mattered—not the past, nor the future. Nothing mattered except that she wanted to step right back into his embrace and have him kiss her, hold her and caress her. Reality finally struck. They both heard his mother’s voice this time, calling to him.

  “Jim!”

  They were both aware of the thinly disguised animosity his mother had shown to Julie at the best of times. She had blamed Julie and held her totally responsible for her son’s injury, ignoring the fact that Julie had been injured herself. And she let anyone and everyone know who would listen that it had all been Julie Bradley’s fault.

  Jim had only just released her arms when his mother rounded the corner of the house. How Phyllis Morgan had known just where he was amidst the crowd of people, he would never know. He turned to his mother and readjusted his hat, which Julie’s eager hands had knocked askew moments earlier.

  “Hello, Mother.”

  Silence followed his greeting as he observed his mother taking in the scene that greeted her. As she looked at Julie’s averted eyes, flushed cheeks and tousled hair, Jim kept his face deliberately bland, or so he hoped. But from the fire shooting forth from his mother’s gaze, he guessed that she would assume she’d just interrupted a fight between them. Immediately she grabbed her son’s arm.

  Glaring at Julie, Phyllis said, “I don’t know why you can’t leave my son alone, Julie Bradley. It’s because of you that he—”

  “Enough, Mother!” Jim’s voice cut across her tirade. He had heard it many times before, and he didn’t want Julie to have to hear it now. Part of him was tempted to say it again to his mother and end this animosity. But his logic won out and not to disrupt the family. “Let’s all head back to the party and forget the past. Mother, why don’t you make sure everything is running smoothly while I run upstairs and get cleaned up?”

  Julie turned to leave him also, but he caught her arm as he watched his mother leave. “Why don’t you come upstairs and use one of the spare rooms, Julie? You look a bit bedraggled at the moment.” He couldn’t stop the smile that curled his lips. He liked her looking as if she had just been thoroughly kissed…by him, that is.

  * * * * *

  He showed her into the room next to his own master suite, closed the door and went on toward his room to clean up. Julie walked over to the lovely ceramic bowl and poured some water into it. She splashed the cool water onto her skin; letting the drops cling, then drip down her face onto her chest. She then picked up a brush and ran it through her tangled curls, trying to restore some order to the mess that it had become.

  In the mirror, she saw a half-open door behind her. Without considering her actions first, she went over and walked through the doorway. The moment she heard the splash of water, she realized that she was in Jim’s bedroom. The last time she had been in his house they had never quite made it upstairs. She thought for a moment that she should definitely not be in here, and she didn’t want him to find her, but she found herself beginning to look then wander around the room.

  She walked over to his large dresser, pausing to touch the brush that lay there, and then lifted the bottle that contained his cologne. She inhaled deeply of the scent she had remembered often in the middle of the night, even in the dreams she often had starring him. After a few moments, she replaced the bottle stopper and moved over to the very large bed. She sat down, enjoying the wonderful down-filled softness. Lying back, Julie closed her eyes in abject surrender to the sensual enjoyment.
She smiled, thinking that some extravagances, such as a deliciously soft, big bed to sleep in, were well worth the cost.

  How long she laid there, the breeze drifting across her flesh from the open window, she had no idea. She was tired, since she’d not had a good night’s sleep after returning home a few days earlier. She’d had too many thoughts on her mind each night as she lay down to sleep. Her mind had raced with indecision, and she just hadn’t been able to relax enough to sleep.

  Finally she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Jim, standing a few feet away from the bed gazing down at her. He was wearing a towel knotted at his waist and a very devilish smile. His dark hair was dripping with moisture and his skin gleamed in the faint sunlight streaming through the open windows. She wasn’t sure if she moved invitingly or he just read her deepest and most wanton thoughts, but in the next moment he was beside her on the bed, kissing her as if nothing else existed, nobody else mattered—not the past, not families—only their feelings and what happened between them when they came together.

  “You drive me crazy, woman,” Jim finally muttered when he released her lips.

  He moved his mouth downward as his hand tugged at her dress until her breasts popped free. He eagerly sucked her right nipple deep into his mouth, while his other hand cupped her left breast. He massaged her sensitive flesh, stroking her left nipple until it hardened and peaked as much as the right nipple he suckled on deeply. When he finally released her right nipple, it broke free of his mouth with a wet plopping noise. He smiled and lowered his head to the left to worship and prepare it as he had the other.