“True. Dad’d skin us alive if we upset the queen bee, even now.” Kane twisted the wire cutters. “Anyway, I’m thinkin’ about changin’ my name.”Kade laughed. “Right.”“I’m serious. Something that don’t start with a ‘K’ or a ‘C’ like everyone in this damn family.”“How about…Dick?”“How about you fuck off, smartass?”Kade grinned. “So whatcha thinkin’? Bubba? Spud? Deuce? Fred? Ethyl?”“I think Bennett’s datin’ a woman from Thermopolis named Ethyl.”“No kiddin’?”“Yeah, I’m kiddin’. Goddamn you’re easy to tease, Kade.”“Give me a break. I ain’t had to make small talk besides with the cattle for the last year. Good thing Eliza ain’t expectin’ me to be a brilliant talker.”Kane clipped a section of wire. “What about Skylar? Does she expect that from you?”“Who the hell knows?” Frustrated, Kade pounded his foot against the metal jaws of the posthole digger. “We don’t talk about nothin’ except Eliza.”“That’s to be expected, ain’t it?”“Probably. But it’s been a few weeks since I moved in.
“Nice to meetcha, Miz Bancroft.”When Annie yelled, “Sky. Did you hear me? Line two,” Skylar had no choice but to dump him with Dee.Ten minutes later, she found Kade and Dee chatting in the herb drying room. He turned around at her approach. His heated I-wanna-eat-you-up look made her nipples hard and her belly clench. Then his handsome face lit up when he noticed Eliza was in her arms.“There’s my sweet girl.”At the sound of his voice, Eliza’s tiny feet kicked.His grin widened. “Didja miss me, baby? You been behavin’ for your mama today?”“Your sweet girl hasn’t slept for more than fifteen minutes at a time all day.”“Maybe that means she’ll sleep all night for a change.” He nuzzled Eliza’s pudgy neck. “Which ain’t fair because it’s your night to be up with her.”“My night? I thought we were taking turns?”“Me too, sweetheart. But I took all the turns last night. You didn’t move when I got out of bed. At midnight. At two. And at four.”Dee chuckled. “Oh. I get it now.” Still smili
“Great timing. Dinner’s done.”“Good. That looks mighty tasty. Thanks for cookin’.”“You’re welcome.” Weren’t they civilized and polite? What happened to the heated looks and his suggestion of taking her to bed? Why didn’t he suggest they skip supper and head straight for dessert?Why don’t you take a chance and tell him what’s really on your mind?Kade shoveled in a forkful of rice and chewed. “This is good. What’s the spice?”“I added fresh savory.”“Mmm. That it is.”He ate. She ate. They finished the meal in uncomfortable silence.She started to clean up the dishes and declined his offer to help.Finally, he said, “You gonna tell me what’s wrong?”She slammed the cupboard door. “I don’t know.”“Could you at least give me the courtesy of lookin’ at me when we’re talkin’, sweetheart?”Skylar wheeled around. “We aren’t talking, Kade.”“Is that the problem?”“Maybe.”“Only one way to rectify that, Skylar. If you have some to say to me, spit it out.”“Fine. For lack of a better term, w
The mattress shifted and Skylar sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me?”“Because I liked havin’ you next to me, no matter what your motives were. Don’t matter right now.” He fluttered his fingertips up the inside of her thighs. “Spread your legs wider for me, sweetheart.”Kade caught a whiff of her arousal. Thick. Sweet. Warm. He wanted to taste her so damn bad his mouth was watering. Keeping his hands gripping her thighs, he leaned over and put his mouth on her belly button.Her stomach muscles rippled beneath his lips.He dipped his tongue into the indentation, then dragged it down to the top of her pubic bone. He blew softly across her damp curls.Goose flesh broke out across her legs and she softly gasped.“Any objections about me kissin’ you down here?”“Ah. No. Please.”Kade chuckled at her polite eagerness. After a couple of gentlemanly licks, he buried his face in her pussy, found her pulse with his tongue and began to suck her clit.She moaned his name. His. Kade.Oh yeah. This is
She’d never had much of a sex life, so the fact she was getting some good lovin’ on a regular basis should’ve made her swoon like giggling maiden. So why did it bug the crap out of her that sex had turned…routine? And that was saying a lot, coming from someone like Skylar who thrived on routine. Not only was she too chicken to take a chance on initiating sex with Kade, she was afraid he’d balk at seeing her flab-ulous post-baby body and end all sexual contact. She kept all naked encounters in the dark, figuring so-so sex was better than no sex? Right?Wrong. The niggling feeling that something was missing outside of the bedroom didn’t help her frame of mind because she had no frame of reference for a situation like this—sexually or personally. For the first time in a long time, she had no plan of attack, no earthly idea on how to go about implementing changes.Sky left the office and headed home. The big screen TV in the living room wasn’t on. Kade wasn’t sprawled on the couch. The ba
Crap. She should’ve known he’d figure that out. It was a silly ploy anyway and she was surprised it’d worked as long as it did.“I’ll still get up with Eliza at night. I bought another baby monitor for my room so I can hear her. But you might wanna keep in mind I won’t be back until late the next coupla nights.”Ask him where he’s going.Like hell. The old, stubborn Skylar asserted herself and pointed out they weren’t married. Kade could do whatever he wanted and damn him for not being satisfied with her in bed or out of it. But wasn’t that just the story of her life? “Anything else?”“Nope.” He pointed to the living room. “Unless you’re up for watchin’ a little TV with me now that we got that long overdue discussion outta the way?”Frustrated with him, but mostly herself, she half snarled, half growled as she stormed up the stairs.She heard Kade say, “I guess I can take that as a no.”******“Hey, baby girl. Stop screaming. Ssh. It’s okay. Mama’s right here. Ssh.”Eliza kept right o
Skylar stared. Good God. Was every single one of the blasted McKay men so sinfully good-looking? No question this man was related to Kade—same dark hair, same vivid blue eyes.But Cord only had eyes for AJ. Hungry eyes. “Hey, baby doll. I was lookin’ for you.”“And you found me.”“Appears you found your way to the babies again,” he murmured and angled over her shoulder to examine Eliza.“I can’t help it. Isn’t she the sweetest thing?”“Yes, she is. Least that’s what her daddy says.” Cord’s eyes met Skylar’s, almost in challenge.Sky’s mocking look challenged him back. “Kade is a sucker. He’s already promised to buy her a pony.”“I imagine so.” He thrust out his hand. “I’ve seen you around, and I know India, but we’ve never been introduced. Cord McKay.”She shook his hand. “Skylar Ellison. Do all you McKay cousins and brothers look alike?”“The wonder twins notwithstandin’, I don’t see the resemblance, but other folks do. I imagine we all oughta wear name tags tomorrow, so you don’t ge
“For Christsake, Colt, that’s the dumbest damn thing I ever heard. I’m a little old to be defendin’ my honor, let alone yours.”“Kade’s got a point.”“Shut the fuck up, Buck.” Colt grinned. “I gotta admit I’m likin’ the way your new name rhymes.”Buck gave him the finger.“Maybe I didn’t mean honor as much as I meant I don’t wanna get shown up,” Colt said.“Shown up by who?”“Quinn and Bennett are competin’.”“So? They been travelin’ the circuit team ropin’ on a regular basis?”“Nah. But that don’t mean they ain’t been practicin’ together down at the south end of the ranch when we’ve been up here workin’ on our separate sections. If you’ll remember, they whupped our butts but good last time.”“That was damn near seven years ago.”“Hey, ain’t that the time Cam and Carter teamed up?” Buck asked.“Yep. Folks were laughin’ at my brothers attempts at ropin’ and wrestlin’, instead of laughin’ at the damn rodeo clown,” Colt grumbled. “So it is about honor. The honor of kickin’ our cousins’ s