Riders - Horizons (III) Read online

“I carry through with my promises. Even if that makes me an idiot at times...” I couldn't help notice the heavy sarcasm edging into his voice, and what a strange choice of words.

  “Josh, you're no idiot and you sound really pissed off. What's up?”

  “Nothing, and fucking everything... I'd better go before I say something I shouldn't.”

  “What have I done, what's wrong?”

  “You're the lawyer, how's the current case going?”

  “What case?” I was getting very confused. It was only 11 a.m. But I wondered if he was drunk. If so, I hoped he wasn't a miserable drunk like this all the time.“Can I come over and sort this out, face to face?” I thought I could suss out if he'd been drinking at least.

  “No, I'm busy today, but I can spare you a few minutes this evening. Make it eight. I'll be at the bunkhouse. Don't be late, I've got plans for later.”

  “Sure, that's fine,” I murmured getting quite upset at his 'couldn't give a fuck' attitude.

  He even hung up on me before I could say goodbye.

  “Yeah... well... bye to you too, babe!”

  Why no goodbye, or anything pleasant mentioned about the day we'd spent together? A lump rose in my throat and the hurtful sting of tears flooded my eyes.

  What a strange, unnerving conversation. I got the distinct impression he was more than unimpressed and had lost interest in me.

  What on earth had happened between yesterday evening and today to make him feel that way? Perhaps it was his job? He was under stress or something? I tried hard not to worry too much, because I was very interested in him now. After the wonderful day I'd had yesterday. He was nothing like I'd imagined he'd be and I liked him so very much. I was prepared to give him a chance and to tell him so.

  Perhaps that was what he needed? Some nice news? Some hot attention? Someone to listen and to care?

  We all have days where we feel down. Life can get you like that.

  I swallowed my bad reaction to his call and forced a smile on my face as Philipa held up her latest masterpiece for my approval. I took it from her in awe. She really was a good artist. Very talented. The horse head and neck was shaded heavily. His eye was perfect. I knew whose horse this one was. It had a white cross on it's forehead. Storm was so handsome, completely beautiful. Much like the guy who sat on him.

  “Joshua's horse is lovely. Joshua's lovely. Kicker is very lovely. I love him. Can I marry him?” Her voice had a note of pleading. As if I could grant her wish, just like that.

  “Kicker's a little old for you, sweet. Think about that. But yes, everything in the world is lovely, isn't it?” The irony of my words brought a pain to my chest.

  “I love horses, Tiffy, I want one. Can I have one? Just a little one.”

  “I don't think so. They're very expensive to buy and look after, you see.”

  Her mouth drooped with the two big refusals she'd received. No Kicker to marry and no little horse. “Maybe one day. If things change for the better,” I said vaguely, and her face brightened again.

  “If you marry Joshua, we can live on the Ranch and I can have a horse, can't I?”

  My heart squeezed so tightly.

  I said a little prayer... for Philipa... that she'd be happy and her dreams came true. As for mine, I didn't dare hope for anything like that.

  CHAPTER THREE

  JOSHUA

  With a fair degree of revulsion, I carefully began to dig out the bullets from the dead cattle. I needed to resolve this issue and it would take a scientific approach to do it. I had to get some tangible evidence. After a fairly repulsive dig around, I found what I needed. Placing the two bullets in my pocket, I mounted my horse and rode back to the ranch. It was a long ride and a hot day. I stopped at the ridge and took a rest, giving Storm a break.

  I was still stinging over her. She was the only girl I'd really felt strongly about. She was cool, beautiful, smart, and seemed to be very into me. That day I spent with her and her sister had been a great day. Something I'd like to have repeated several times over. I'd felt something new growing inside me. She'd awoken a tide of protectiveness. I'd wanted to look after her. Both the Johnson girls. And at the same time, I wanted to please them. To ensure they had a good time with me.

  I paced up and down on the grass as Storm grazed, oblivious to my agitated mood. I chewed a piece of grass while I stewed over my thoughts.

  More fool me. Appearances could be so deceptive. Lesson learned.

  I returned to the saddle, swinging myself up and heading off with a hardened heart.

  *

  She placed them in a labeled plastic bag with a pair of tweezers, “I'll send them off to forensics. And we need to eliminate your fingerprints, so can we take those, Josh?” Lorna, the Deputy Sheriff said.

  “Sure. Go ahead, Lorna.” I held out my hand, submitting to the finger printing. I'd do whatever was necessary to bring the bastard who did this to justice.

  “Got any enemies, people with a grudge? Ex employees? Bad blood? Anything like that?”

  “Two guys spring to mind. Lucky, who I just fired. He's always been on my case. He could have done this to cause me trouble. The other, more likely culprit is our dear friend Mickey Green. Since my pa bought him out, he's always had a sore spot. This would be right up his street, sneaking in and shooting something belonging to us.”

  She picked up my other hand and proceeded to print that too.

  “We need more than a hunch to go on. I can't get a search warrant to look for a gun unless I have good reason. But I can make inquiries at the gun stores. To see if he purchased one local. If I can match a weapon type to the bullet, along with due cause and motive, such as a grudge, that may well be enough to convince the municipal judge to issue a search warrant.”

  “Whatever you can do to help will be appreciated. I don't know what I can do other than hire a PI.”

  “You don't want to do that. Not in this instance. Don't tamper with the process of law, Josh.” Lorna smiled at me. She had a sweet smile. She was far too old for me at almost fifty, but she still had a lot of sex appeal. “Right we're done, wipe your fingers, Josh.”

  “Thanks, you're a doll, sweetheart.”

  “Excuse me? Is that any way to address an officer of the law? Deputy Sheriff Summers to you my boy!”

  “I beg your pardon, ma'am. Kinda forgetting myself in your presence.” I winked at her and she blushed.

  As I left the Sheriff's office, I was pleased I'd done something proactive. Not only to bring the offender to justice, but I hoped this may finally get my father to see I had some value. I had an ongoing need to prove myself to him. He threw it back in my face time after time, but I kept going back for more. It was all down to Mom. After I'd gone off the rails in California for a year, my return had caused a lot of bad feeling in the home. That was why I'd moved into the ranch house. I knew Mom and Pa argued over me. I didn't want to hear it or be in their face, causing friction. I hoped things would calm down in time and they did. But the issue was never fully resolved. And after she died, without her mediating between us, things just got worse.

  Mom was forgiving by nature. She put my excesses down to my youth and a need for something more exciting than small town life. She understood and loved me unconditionally, no matter what. Pa was different. He'd taken my leaving personally. It had been a rejection of his way of life, a taunting message that I didn't want to be there or become like him. He was tied to hard work and the 'sweet' flavor of home with no need of experiencing the other side of life. The more challenging taste I'd had. I didn't regret my trip. It made me realize, home was best. And it would be but for Pa's continued and longstanding disapproval.

  Now I had to earn his love and respect. Something I'd not managed to do so far. The annoying thing was, I knew he was the one at fault. He wouldn't even make the effort to meet me half way. He wouldn't talk to me, man to man. But if I could do something to make him sit up and pay attention, that could, just maybe, thaw his ice.

  I rode hom
e on my Harley, flying along the sunlit lanes, feeling the high of speed rush through my veins.

  I made mental plans to go away for a few days, to drop in on some guys I knew in Kansas city. It'd be cool to hang with their gang for a while. To chill. The KMC were tough but clean living. Well, maybe not that clean, but as far as an MC went, they were fairly regular guys. Maybe in a few weeks, I'd take off. I needed a break. It had been a over year since I'd had a few days to myself.

  Fuck, I really needed a break from the ranch.

  But I had the sense to realize now was not the time to leave for a heavy duty party weekend.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  TIFFANY

  As requested, I arrived on time at the ranch. It was dark as I parked up my little Triumph opposite the stables, out of the way.

  I headed for the adjacent bunkhouse, rapping loudly at the door.

  I'd taken a great amount of care with my appearance. My curly hair was straightened and sleek. It shone like glass. I hoped he liked it this way. I was wearing my leather look stretch jeans, my leather jacket and high boots and a white broderie anglaise peasant style top which skimmed my waist. It added a air of innocence to my hard hitting biker chick. And I'd toned down the make up, a barely there sweet and fresh faced look. You could even see my freckles. Fresh from our ride out yesterday afternoon. It didn't take a lot for me to freckle up. I hope he liked freckles.

  The door opened and he emerged from the light of the bunkhouse like a sex god from sex heaven.

  He gave me a good look over and a small smile hovered on his lips. Although he didn't say anything, I could tell he liked what he saw.

  “Hi, let's take a walk, shall we?” He left the bunkhouse and the door closed with a loud slam behind him.

  “Okay?” I leaned toward him for a kiss and he turned his head a little so I missed his mouth and ended up skimming his cheek instead. I found that small rebuff quite upsetting. Was he avoiding kissing me? “Josh, what's up?” I asked him. Getting straight to the point.

  “Nothin' much... should there be?”

  “No. Nothing's changed in my mind, but you have. You seem very off with me.”

  “Maybe you just need to warm me up some,” he grinned at me, but his smile seemed forced. “Come with me, babe.”

  He took my hand and strode off at a fast pace through the barn door. The motion sensor lights came on brightly, illuminating us. He walked to the end, turning into a space between the bales of hay. “There's a few mice in here, but I guess they'll turn a blind eye to whatever they see or hear.”

  He stood before me, the sexiest thing I'd ever seen in his ripped black jeans and white T.

  How I wanted to melt his heart and make him hot for me.

  More than anything. I wanted to see that fire in his eyes and have him out of control at my hands. I wanted to feel that pleasure roaring around my veins. I needed him. Badly. My sex contracted with want of him and all we could be. This was something I wasn't very familiar with. Desire, and wanting someone as badly as this, hurt, with a physical pain.

  He took my breath from my lungs and set my pulse roaring.

  “Josh, baby, you know how I feel about you, don't you?” I reassured him, with a soft tone of voice.

  “Why don't you show me?”

  I reached up and touched his face with my fingertips. My breathing ramped up as I felt the softness of his skin and the contrasting bristle of his beard. I wanted to feel that all over me. I moved forward, wrapping my arm around his waist and leaning in to kiss his neck. My tongue worked some magic and I could feel him loosen up, relaxing in my arms.

  He took hold of my hair, tipping my head back.

  “You're such a sweet little bitch. Jesus... you're just too beautiful. A beautiful man-trap.”

  A man-trap?

  But I didn't think too much further on that. I gasped as his mouth crushed down on mine.

  It wasn't the soft and tender loving I'd hoped for. This was harsh and hard. His tongue plundered my mouth like he owned it. His fingers pressed into my ass, and he began rubbing himself against me. I could feel the hardness of his erection pressing into my hipbone. I couldn't stop it... my hand strayed there. Down the front of his jeans. I had an obsession with that part of him. It was stuck in my head like a heated torch. One I wanted thrust inside me, this very moment.

  I slid my fingers around his silky smooth shaft, rubbing my thumb across the top, feeling the slick wetness ooze out. I was beyond excited, my chest heaving. His hand reached beneath my top, up to my bare breast and he played with my nipple, rolling it between his finger and thumb. He pinched it hard and I gasped out loud.

  “Oh God, I want you.” I groaned with the pain and pleasure that had been awoken inside me.

  “How much, sweetheart?”

  “A real lot.”

  “You want all of me?”

  “Yes,” I said shamelessly. I didn't care where he did it. Here was just perfect. Mice, rats, dirty straw, I didn't give a damn. My need was that strong. I had a feeling he'd be different when he made love to me. When he lost his hard edge and was inside my body, loving me, he'd be his old self again, the Josh I liked a great deal.

  He picked me up and I wrapped my legs round him as he carried me to the low bales of hay to one side.

  He yanked off my boots, my stretch leathers hit the deck and my panties were removed after a few swift tugs down my legs.

  He stood looking at me as he got something out of his pocket and unzipped his fly. Dropping his jeans low on his hips. I stared at the wonderful sight before me as he ripped the foil with his teeth and smoothed the condom on himself.

  My eyes were burning with so much desire. He was so beautiful. I held my arms out to him, dying to get him close, and opened my legs as he moved over my body.

  I took his hardness in my hands guiding it toward that hot, wet, and craving place of mine that was crying out to be filled.

  “You're so good baby. More than good. And so deserving of my best attention,” he murmured in my ear as he got into position.

  How I loved this urgency. This needy side to him. I wanted to satisfy that need... to make him feel wonderful inside. To release him from his down mood and to take him away, to fly with me somewhere special.

  He drove into me hard and fast.

  It hurt, stinging as I accommodated his size.

  His mouth claimed mine and his tongue mirrored his thrusting inside me. It was hard and raw. And how I loved it. I was sure he could do anything to me, and I'd love it. Really love it. And want it. Pain and all.

  “How does that feel?... Good?” he asked, his breath hot against my ear, as he thrust again and again, moving my body with the force of his action.

  Good?

  It was beyond good. It was intense. Hard and basic. Much wanted and so very needed.

  “Gorgeous, just like you,” I whimpered as pleasure began to surge through every cell of my body. I moved up to meet him, just as hard and just as needy, my hands buried in his hair. How I loved his hair. Soft as silk and so lovely in my hands. Our mouths met in a mind-blowing union.

  I wanted all I could get of this man. He was mine.

  So completely mine.

  His hands roamed and he held my breast in his hand, roughly massaging it. “Oh God, Josh, yes...”

  At that moment I lost it and so did he. We melted into each other like a pair of love crazed animals. Heat flushed through me like an uncontrollable fire.

  “Goddamn you,” he groaned in my mouth.

  “And goddamn you too, baby,” I moaned in return, feeling completely high on him.

  His gaze met mine, and suddenly, everything softened between us.

  At that moment, he took hold of my heart.

  “Tiffany, sweetheart,” he murmured in a hoarse voice. This was what I'd been waiting for. The gentle side of him. The real Joshua, the caring sweet one. We rolled around together, hands and mouths exploring, gently nipping at each other. He whispered such beautiful things in my ear, t
hings I really loved to hear. I thrilled inside as he stroked through my hair, kissing it and wrapping it round his fingers. And then he kissed my eyes, his mouth sweeping slowly back and forth as his fingers went down, and slid overs that sensitive part of me.

  Over and over, insistently, he stroked me to heaven.

  “Josh...whoa...sweet heaven above...” I trembled and sweat beneath him, my eyes rolling back in my head. I moved against his fingers, instinctively building the pressure. How I loved this. I'd never felt anything like this before. So hot and aroused and so full of him, my body, my mind, my heart... everywhere.

  I wanted him with everything I was made of. So desperately.

  My breath caught in my throat as he brought his fingers up to his mouth and tasted me. My heart was pumping much too hard and fast and I was almost beyond myself.

  He wrenched off his t-shirt and pulled up my loose blouse.

  Our bodies lay bare together. My breasts squashed beneath the heaviness of his muscular chest.

  My hands were all over his back and his bare ass, up in his hair, drifting in a dream around his broad shoulders. I felt the muscles working as he moved and I burned inside like a flaming torch.

  Never had I felt so hot and excited. From the heated, harsh breathing, the way his mouth was open and his glazed expression, he seemed to be just as involved and deeply in the moment as I was.

  I felt a storm rising as he touched me, so carefully, stroking me inside. It felt like velvet, satin and silk were caressing my skin. I adored him for taking the time to get me there―inching closer and closer to the point where―

  “Oh... oh... Josh!” I actually shouted his name out loud, tightening my grip on him, my head tipping back and my eyes closing as orgasm took me over.

  It was truly earth shattering.

  Waves of pleasure ripped through me, soaking and drenching me like a raging river, flooding me with heated pulsations.

  He kissed me long and slow, his tongue winding with mine.

  With a long low groan, he collapsed on me with his release..