“Worse, whiskey.”
“Shit. Lemon never could handle her whiskey.”
“I know it.”
“Okay, Wade and I are in town, and God only knows where Wyatt is. He disappeared as soon as we got home, but you call if you need us.”
“Will do.”
“I know I don’t need to tell you that if you touch her—”
“Don’t you have any faith in me as a man who knows right from wrong and who happens to be a pretty decent human being?”
“Well, let’s see. You made out with my little sister when she was sixteen, took her virginity at seventeen, and let’s not forget that you—”
“Yeah, okay. I haven’t always been the best judge of character when it came to her.”
“Colt, when it comes to Lemon, you could never tell up from down.”
“It’s different now.”
“Is it? Let me ask you something. In the time she’s been back, have you thought about picking up right where you left off?”
I let out a disgruntled sigh.
“I rest my case.”
“She’s safe with me.”
“Lemon has never been safe with you. Do you know why?”
I tense and grit out through my teeth, “I know you’re about to tell me.”
“You two are all kinds of wrong for each other, and I think you’ve been through enough.”
“Why don’t you let me worry about what I’ve been through and what I’m capable of handling.”
“Well, when she skips town again in the middle of the night, don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”
“I’ll bring her back in the mornin’.”
“See that you do it before Mama wakes and finds her gone. She don’t need any more heartache right now.”
“Uh-huh.” I end the call and bounce the phone against my palm as I exit the bathroom and stare at the woman in my bed. Lemon hasn’t moved. Her hair falls into her face and I cross the room and brush it back like I’ve done a million times before. A quiet sigh leaves her parted lips and I have to resist the urge to sweep my thumb across them and see if they’re as soft as I remember.
I may have promised her brother I could keep my hands to myself, but seeing her laid out before me, I wanna touch her everywhere. I just bet her fiancé would love that now, wouldn’t he?
Moving away from the bed, I sit in the armchair, watching her sleep. I can’t sleep here and still be awake enough to work in the pastures tomorrow. And I can’t go to the bed-and-breakfast because it’s locked up tight after office hours. So I have no choice but to climb in beside her, but I don’t like my chances of getting any shut-eye tonight. Not when the only woman I’ve ever loved is sleeping beside me, the way I’ve always wanted.
Turning out the light, I take off my jeans and leave my boxers in place as I slip beneath the covers. I yank them out from under her and she rolls into the middle of the bed. I gently try to push her over, but if I’m honest with myself, I don’t try too hard. I lie back against the pillow and cover us both with the blankets as she snuggles in closer, her head on my chest and her arm draped across my waist. I ease my arm out from under her and wrap it around her shoulders, gently holding her to me.
In the morning, she’ll get up and things will go back to the way they were. I’ll regret ever pulling her into my cabin. I’ll regret pushing the hair back off her face and holding her like she belongs to me, because the truth is, she don’t belong to anyone. Maybe she never did.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Colt
Twenty years old
Several hours after I received the biggest ass-whooping of my life, I emerge from my bedroom and sit at my daddy’s table. Skirt steak and potato again. He don’t know how to cook nothing else, and I ain’t dumb enough to complain because he’s kept me fed ever since Mama died. I think that’s why finding me with Lemon Winchester was such a slap in the face, because without the paychecks we bring in from Winchester Wild, we’d have no food on our table and no roof over our heads.
We eat in silence until we’re done, then my father leans back in his seat and glares at me. “Clean this up, and then you head on over to the Winchesters’ and you make it right, boy,” my father says.
“Yes, sir.”
“Lemon Winchester is off-limits.”
I nod as I collect our plates and scrape off the table scraps into the dog’s bowl. I wash the dishes in record time and leave the house. My face and body hurt from the beating my daddy gave me. I didn’t fight back, because I earned it. I kept Lemon out all night. My selfishness could have ruined her reputation, but worse than that, I made her daddy and her brothers look at her like they were ashamed, and I never wanted her to feel the brunt of that anger. It should all be directed at me. This is all on me.
I saddle up Knievel and ride on over to the Winchester Ranch. It’s just after dinner, and I know the boys will be finishing up in the stalls as Mr. and Mrs. Winchester sit on the porch with a whiskey, while Lemon is usually up in her room doing her homework.
The Winchester boys all side-eye me as I pass on my way to the ranch house, but I don’t stop to talk to them because I got to make it right with Mr. and Mrs. Winchester first. Eventually, West and I will have it out, but that’s a problem for another day.
I climb off my horse and tether him to the fencepost. He whinnies and bows his head to gnaw on the lush green grass by the fence. I don’t expect to see Lemon when I glance up. She’s standing on the front porch, as if she just came bolting out from inside. She takes a step toward me.
“Go on back to your room, now, Lemon,” Mr. Winchester says.
“Daddy,” she says in a warning tone.
“You mind if I visit with you a minute, Mr. Winchester?”
“You’re standin’ in my yard talkin’ now, ain’t ya?”
“Yes, sir.” I take a deep breath and try not to glance at his daughter as I address him. “I’d like to apologize for my actions. I know it was wrong of me to meet her last night, and I know I should have come and spoke to you first, but I love your daughter, sir. I can apologize for going about things the wrong way, and sneaking around behind everyone’s backs, but I won’t apologize for lovin’ her.”
“You’re old enough to be her big brother, and you’re certainly old enough to know right from wrong.”
“Yes, sir, I am. But being with Lemon doesn’t feel wrong, and I swear I ain’t ever looked at her like a little sister.”
“You broke my trust in you. You broke my trust in my little girl.” Mr. Winchester glares at me, and then he looks at his daughter, the tears streaming down her face, and something in him seems to melt. Lemon has a way of doing that to a man. All your resolve just disappears into thin air. I don’t care that my daddy warned me away from her because the truth is, I can’t stay away. Now that I’ve kissed her, been inside her, and held her in my arms, I can’t ever give her up. And if I can sway old William Winchester, I know my own father will come around.
“I could tell you to stay away from him, Lemon, but I know two things. One, you’re Winchester wild. I told you that Sleep’n Pete was off-limits and it just made you want him more. I’m not stupid enough to believe that won’t happen again here. But you’re my little girl, Lemon, and while you live under my roof, you won’t go sneaking out with boys in the middle of the night.”