Free Bushedwhacked Bride by Eugenia Riley Page A

traitors in our midst. Miss Jessie and I already have an understanding.” He flashed her a lethal smile. “Don’t we, sugar?”
    Jessica stared daggers at him.
    Gabe turned to confront his mother. “Hey, how come Cole gets to have an understanding with Miss Jessie, and reckon with her, and we don’t?”
    “Yeah, I want to reckon with her,” asserted Wes.
    But Ma only shook her head. “Boys, your older brother is right. It’s only proper.” She turned to Jessica and patted her hand. “If you betray us, honey, Cole will give you the switchin’, and worse, I reckon. Won’t you, son?”
    “My pleasure,” Cole drawled.
    Jessica burned in silent outrage.

 
    Chapter Seven
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    “Can I trust you to go to town with Ma tomorrow?”
    Long after dinner ended, after Ma shooed the boys off to the bunkhouse, Jessica was sitting alone on the front porch swing when she heard the front door creak open, followed by Cole’s deep voice. She gasped slightly as he stepped outside and slid onto the swing beside her, his weight rocking it. At once she became intensely con scious of his male scent, the heat of his body next to hers in the slight coolness of evening. She tried to scoot away, but there was no place to go.
    “I didn’t invite you here,” she said coldly.
    He shoved his boots against the floorboards, setting the swing into motion. “It’s my spread, not yours, so I don’t need an invite.”
    “It’s your spread?” she asked, bemused. “Not your mother’s?”
    “Nope. When my pa died, it fell to me.”
    “Whatever. Will you leave now?”
    “Nope.”
    She ground her teeth.
    “I brought you something.”
    “What?”
    “Here.”
    In the darkness, Cole took Jessica’s hand, and she felt something warm and furry slide into her palm. She gasped, stroking the creature with her other hand, listening to a low purring.
    “A kitten!” she cried, delighted.
    “Yep, I managed to lasso one of Jezebel’s latest.”
    Jessica held the kitten up to the moonlight; it was tiny and jet-black, with sharply pointed ears and large eyes. As she kept it aloft, it mewled pitifully. Lowering her hand, she hugged the tiny furball to her chest, feeling touched, de spite herself.
    “Thanks, Cole,” she murmured. “She’s precious. I wonder if her eyes will be yellow, or perhaps green—”
    “Like yours, Miss Jessie?” he asked huskily.
    Oh, he could turn a wicked phrase, making the simplest question sound sinful. Jessica’s heart pounded and she felt even more rattled by his nearness.
    She forced out a laugh. “So, is this your present for me?”
    He chuckled. “Well, maybe I felt obliged to compete with my brothers a bit.”
    Jessica smiled at the memory. “Yes, Billy with his flowers, Wesley with his candy, Luke with his ribbon—”
    “And Gabe with his soap.”
    They both laughed. “Yes, and offering me a mule!” Jessica declared.
    Cole fell silent a moment. “I don’t think a mule suits you, Miss Jessie. Matter of fact, I’d like to see you astride a palomino, riding into the wind.”
    The image took Jessica’s breath away, conjuring a pic ture of the two of them riding together through a spectac ular mountain pass. She forced a casual tone. “Are you offering me a horse now, Mr. Reklaw?”
    He chuckled again, a low, sensual sound. “Actually, sugar, a horse isn’t quite what I’ve imagined offering you.”
    Jessica reeled. “Stop it, Cole.”
    “Cole,” he murmured. “I like the sound of my Christ ian name on your lips.”
    “Stop tormenting me or I’ll call you worse,” she warned.
    His lazy laugh rolled forth. “Remembering our kiss, Miss Jessie?”
    “The kiss you stole!”
    “So you are remembering it.”
    “Certainly not,” she declared primly.
    He leaned closer, and she felt his hot breath on her ear. “I think you’re bluffing. And what if I call your bluff?”
    Jessica jerked away. “I’d best go in now.”
    He grasped her wrist. “Not so fast. You haven’t an