HOT WESTMORELAND NIGHTS.
by BRENDA JACKSON.
Prologue.
Chloe Burton pressed her face to the windowpane as she watched the man sprint across the street. Her heart began pounding in her chest. He had to be, without a doubt, the most handsome man she"d ever seen.
She stared as he stopped to talk to another man in front of a feed store. He was tall, dark and every inch of s.e.xy from the Stetson he wore on his head to the well-worn leather boots on his feet. And from the way his jeans and western shirt fit his body, it was quite obvious he possessed powerful legs, strong arms, taut abs, tight buns and broad muscular shoulders. He had everything it took to separate the men from the boys.
And when he pushed back his hat, she saw dark eyes and a medium skin tone. Then she looked at his mouth and she couldn"t help licking her lips at the sight of his. His lips were full, firm and luscious. She could imagine those lips and his mouth doing other things.
Just looking at him was enough to corrupt a woman"s mind, she thought. Even from this distance, her body felt flushed, hot and unsettled. Nothing like this had ever happened to her while ogling a man in all her twenty-eight years.
Actually, over the past year the only male who had gotten her time and attention had been her e-mail e-mail. And that was mainly because her last relationship with Daren Fulbright had been totally unsatisfying, a complete waste of the year she"d put into it, and she was in no hurry to get into another. No doubt there were some who thought she"d given up on love much too quickly, and perhaps that was true since these days she much preferred curling up with a good book during her free time than with someone of the opposite s.e.x. And now, here she was practically drooling at just the sight of a man. He might be major eye candy, but the man was a complete stranger to her. Even so, the way he was standing with both hands in his jeans pockets, legs braced apart, was a pose she would carry to her dreams.
And he was smiling, evidently enjoying his conversation. He had dimples, incredibly s.e.xy dimples in not one but both cheeks.
"What are you staring at, Clo?"
Chloe nearly jumped. She"d forgotten she had a lunch date. In fact she had forgotten everything once her sights had landed on the s.e.xy man across the street. She glanced over the table at her best friend from college, Lucia Conyers.
"Take a look at that man across the street in the blue shirt, Lucia, and tell me what you see. Would he not be perfect for Denver"s first issue of Simply Irresistible Simply Irresistible or what?" Chloe asked with so much excitement in her voice she almost couldn"t stand it. or what?" Chloe asked with so much excitement in her voice she almost couldn"t stand it.
Chloe was the owner of Simply Irresistible Simply Irresistible, a magazine for today"s up-and-coming woman. The magazine had started out as a regional publication in the southeast, but had expanded to a national audience during the past few years. By far the magazine"s most popular edition was the annual "Irresistible Man" issue. The feature included a cover shoot and an in-depth story on a man who the magazine felt deserved the honor because he was simply irresistible. As the magazine had expanded, Chloe had convinced Lucia to come on board to manage its Denver office.
When Lucia didn"t say anything, Chloe"s smile widened. "Well?"
Lucia glanced across the booth at her. "Since you asked, I"ll tell you what I see. I see one of the Westmorelands, and in this case it"s Ramsey Westmoreland. And to answer your other question as to whether he would be perfect for the cover man on Simply Irresistible Simply Irresistible, my answer would be a resounding yes, but he won"t do it."
Chloe raised a brow. "I take it that you know him," she said watching her friend closely.
Lucia smiled. "Yes, but not as well as I know the younger Westmorelands. There"s a lot of them and he"s one of the oldest. I went to school with his younger siblings and cousins. He has several brothers and male cousins who look just as good. Maybe one of them will agree to do it, but you can forget Ramsey."
Chloe glanced back out the window and knew two things. First, there was no way that she could forget him. Second, from the sound of things it seemed that Lucia was interested in one of those "younger" male Westmorelands. She could hear the wistfulness in her friend"s voice.
"He"s the one I want, Lucia," she said with both determination and conviction in her voice. "And since you know him, then just ask him. He might surprise you and not turn you down. Of course he"ll get paid for his services."
Lucia laughed and shook her head. "Getting paid isn"t the issue, Clo. Ramsey is one of the wealthiest sheep ranchers in this part of Colorado. But everyone knows what a private person he is. Trust me, he won"t do it."
Chloe hoped she was wrong. "But you will ask him?"
"Yes, but I suggest you move on and find another man."
Chloe glanced back out the window. The man was the epitome of what she was looking for in her "Irresistible Man" issue and she was determined to have him.
"Um, I don"t like that look on your face, Chloe. I"ve seen it before and know exactly what it means."
Chloe couldn"t help but smile. She could only blame her smile on her father, Senator Jamison Burton of Florida, the man who"d raised her alone after her mother died of cervical cancer when Chloe was three. Her father was the one man she most admired and he"d always taught her that if people wanted something bad enough, they wouldn"t give up until they got it.
She glanced out the window and watched as Ramsey Westmoreland ended his conversation and entered the feed store with a swagger that almost made her breathless. She would would be seeing him again. be seeing him again.
One.
"I can"t believe you"re not posing for the cover of that magazine, Ram." can"t believe you"re not posing for the cover of that magazine, Ram."
Ramsey Westmoreland didn"t bother to look up from arranging a bale of straw in the lambing stall. He"d figured his youngest sister Bailey would show up sooner or later, because news traveled pretty fast within the Westmoreland family. And of course, Bailey made it her life"s work to know everything about her five brothers, down to their every heartbeat.
"I"m not going away, Ramsey, until you tell me what I want to know."
He couldn"t help but smile at the threat because he knew if he gave her an order to leave that she would would follow it. She might like to express her emotions and display her defiance every once in a while, and G.o.d help him when she did, but when it was all said and done, Bailey knew how far to take things with him. He would be the first to admit that she had tested his limits plenty, especially during those years when she and their cousin Bane had been almost inseparable. The two thought getting into trouble was a way of life. follow it. She might like to express her emotions and display her defiance every once in a while, and G.o.d help him when she did, but when it was all said and done, Bailey knew how far to take things with him. He would be the first to admit that she had tested his limits plenty, especially during those years when she and their cousin Bane had been almost inseparable. The two thought getting into trouble was a way of life.
Since then Bailey had finished high school and was now attending college, and Bane had surprised everyone with his decision last month to join the military with the goal of becoming a Navy Seal. All was quiet on the Westmoreland front and Ramsey would be the first to admit, but only to himself, things had been a little boring.
"There"s nothing to tell," he decided to respond. "I was contacted about doing that cover and I turned them down."
"Just like that?"
"Just like that." He figured she was probably glaring at him right now.
"Why, Ram? Just think of the exposure."
He finally decided to look up and the gaze that sharpened on Bailey was so keen, had it been anyone else they would have had the good sense to take a step back. But not twenty-one-year-old Bailey Joleen Westmoreland. Of his three sisters-Megan, who was almost twenty-five and Gemma, who was twenty-three-Bailey was the boldest and could test the patience of Job, so to try the patience of her oldest brother was a piece of cake.
"I don"t want exposure, Bailey. I think the Westmorelands got enough exposure all those years when we had to deal with the trouble you, Bane and the twins got into."
Not an ounce of regret flared in her eyes. "That was then. This is now. And this would have been good exposure."
He almost laughed at that one. "Good exposure for who exactly?" he asked, getting to his feet.
He had a lot to do and little time for chitchat. Nellie, who"d had the responsibility of preparing the meals for him and the ranch hands for the past two years, had to leave suddenly yesterday when she"d gotten word that her only sister back in Kansas had emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix. She intended to stay and help out and it would be at least two weeks before she returned.
Ramsey understood and supported her decision, although Nellie"s absence left him in a bind. Today was the start of shearing and with over twenty or so men involved, he was in desperate need of a cook to take Nellie"s place. He had placed a call to one of these temporary employment agencies yesterday afternoon and was told they had just the person who would be perfect as a fill-in and the woman was to show up this morning.
"It would be good exposure for you and the ranch. It could put you in the public eye and let everyone know how successful you are as a sheep rancher."
Ramsey shook his head. Being in the public eye was something he could definitely pa.s.s on. He was close to his family, but when it came to outsiders he was basically a loner and preferred things that way. Everyone knew how much he enjoyed his privacy. Bailey knew it too, so he wondered, why was she hara.s.sing him?
"The ranch doesn"t need that that kind of exposure. I was asked to pose for some girly magazine, Bail." He had never read a copy of kind of exposure. I was asked to pose for some girly magazine, Bail." He had never read a copy of Simply Irresistible Simply Irresistible, but the name alone made his jaw twitch. He could just imagine the articles that were between the covers.
"You should be flattered they want you on the cover, Ram."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He then checked his watch for two reasons. This was Monday and he knew Bailey had a cla.s.s at the university this morning and and his temporary cook was ten minutes late. his temporary cook was ten minutes late.
"I wish you would reconsider."
He glanced back at her. "No," he said firmly. "And shouldn"t you be in cla.s.s about now?" He moved out of the barn and walked back toward the sprawling home he had finished building the previous year.
Bailey followed, right on his heels. He couldn"t help but recall that she used to do that same thing when he took over the responsibility of raising her when she was seven and he was twenty-one. They"d lost both parents and a beloved aunt and uncle in an airplane accident. During that time she would rarely let him out of her sight. He fought back a smile at the fond memory.
"Yes, I have a cla.s.s this morning, but I thought I"d drop by to talk some sense into you," he heard her say.
He turned around, placed his hands in his pockets. At that moment he couldn"t stop the smile that touched his lips. "Fine. You"ve tried and failed. Goodbye, Bailey."
He watched her place her hands on her hips and lift her chin. No one had to warn him about Westmoreland stubbornness. Hers could be more lethal than most, but over the past twenty-one years he"d learned to deal with it.
"I think you"re making a mistake. I subscribe to that magazine and I think you"d be surprised," she was saying. "It"s not just a "girly" magazine. It has a number of good articles for women, including some on health issues. However, once a year they feature a man on the cover. They try to find a man who"s every woman"s fantasy lover."
A woman"s fantasy lover? Now that was a laugh, Ramsey thought. He was nothing more than a hardworking Colorado sheep rancher and since he"d doubled the size of his herd this past year, he couldn"t recall the last time he"d been intimately involved with a woman. Working sunup to sundown, seven days a week had become a way of life for him. Now that was a laugh, Ramsey thought. He was nothing more than a hardworking Colorado sheep rancher and since he"d doubled the size of his herd this past year, he couldn"t recall the last time he"d been intimately involved with a woman. Working sunup to sundown, seven days a week had become a way of life for him.
"It will be my mistake to make, brat. I"ll survive and so will you. Now scat."
A half-hour later he was alone and standing in his kitchen and clicking off his cell phone after talking to Colin Lawrence, a member of his shearing crew. Because of a snowstorm that had hit the area a few weeks ago, they were already behind in shearing and needed to get that done within the next two weeks in time for lambing to begin. Starting today everything would be moving rather fast to stay on schedule.
Colin had called to say a few of the pregnant ewes had somehow gotten out of the shearing pen and begun to wander. The dogs were having a hard time getting them back in the pen without stressing out the pregnant sheep. The last thing he needed was for any more shearing time to be lost, which meant that he had to get to the shearing plant on the north range as soon as possible.
He headed toward the door when he heard a car pull up outside. He glanced at his watch, agitated. It was about time the cook showed up. The woman was almost an hour late and that was not acceptable. And he intended to let her know about his displeasure.
Chloe brought the car to a stop in front of a huge two-story ranch-style structure and drew in a deep breath. She simply refused to take no for an answer regardless of what Ramsey Westmoreland had told Lucia. His refusal to be the cover story for her magazine was the reason she had ended a much-deserved vacation in the Bahamas to fly directly here. She intended to try to convince the man herself.
As she checked her GPS while traveling farther and farther away from Denver"s city limits and heading into a rural area the locals referred to as Westmoreland Country, she had asked herself why on earth would anyone want to live so far from civilization. That in itself was a mystery to her. She hadn"t pa.s.sed a single shopping mall along the way.
Looking out the car"s window, she couldn"t get out of her mind the man she had seen that day a couple of weeks ago. That was why she refused to move on and select someone else. The bottom line was that she didn"t want anyone else. Ramsey Westmoreland was not only the man made for the t.i.tle of Simply Irresistible Simply Irresistible, but he was was simply irresistible. simply irresistible.
Once she had turned off the main road, she saw the huge wooden marker that proudly proclaimed The Shady Tree Ranch. Beside it another smaller marker read This is Westmoreland Country This is Westmoreland Country. Lucia had said each of the fifteen Westmorelands owned a hundred acres of land where they had established their private residences. The main house sat on three hundred acres.
Once she turned off the main road, there had been several turnoffs, each denoted by smaller brick makers that indicated which Westmoreland the private driveway belonged to. She had traveled past Jason"s Place, Zane"s Hideout, Canyon"s Bluff and Derringer"s Dungeon before finally reaching Ramsey"s Web.
She had done her research and knew everything she needed to know about Ramsey Westmoreland for now. He was thirty-six. A graduate of Tuskegee University"s agricultural economics program, and had been in the sheep ranching business for about five years. Before that he and his cousin Dillon, who was older than Ramsey by only seven months, had run Blue Ridge Land Development, a multimillion-dollar company started by their fathers. Once the company had become successful Ramsey had turned the management of Blue Ridge over to Dillon to become the rancher he"d always wanted to be.
She also knew about the death of his parents and aunt and uncle in a car crash while Ramsey was in his final year of college. For the last fifteen years, Ramsey and Dillon had been responsible for their younger siblings. Dillon had gotten married three months ago, and he and his wife Pamela split their time between Dillon"s home here and Pamela"s home in a small town in Wyoming.
As far as Chloe was concerned, Ramsey Westmoreland was a success story and the type of man that women not only would want to fantasize about, but also one they would want to get to know in the article that would appear in her magazine.
She couldn"t stop the fluttering in her stomach thinking that she was on property he owned and she would be seeing him again. If he had the ability to wreck her senses weeks after first setting eyes on him, she could just imagine what seeing him again would do. But she intended to handle herself as the professional that she was, while at the same time trying to convince him that sheep produced wool that eventually got weaved into articles of clothing-dresses, coats, jackets and such-that were mainly purchased by women.
She took another deep breath and opened the car door and got out at the same time the front door was slung opened and the man who"d tormented her dreams for the past couple of weeks stepped out on the porch with a scowl on his face, and said in a firm voice, "You are late."
Ramsey tried not to stare at the woman but couldn"t help it. And this was supposed to be his temporary cook? She looked more like a model than a d.a.m.n cook. There was no doubt in his mind that she would be able to generate plenty of heat in the kitchen or any other room she set foot in.
She was definitely a beauty with dark brown curly hair that flowed to her shoulders, dark brown eyes that looked seductive rather than contrite and a perfectly shaped mouth. And seeing her dressed in a pair of jeans that hugged her hips and pink blouse beneath a black leather jacket, made her look ultra-feminine and made him blatantly aware of his s.e.xuality, while reminding him of just how long it had been since he"d been with a woman.
Ramsey hadn"t expected this gut-stirring l.u.s.t. He didn"t need the attraction nor did he want it. It would be best for all concerned if she just got back in her car and returned to wherever she"d come from. But that wasn"t possible. He had over twenty men to feed come lunchtime. He had managed to get through breakfast and thank goodness no one had complained. They had understood Nellie"s emergency and had tolerated the slightly burned biscuits, scorched eggs and the overly crisp bacon. He had promised them a better meal for lunch. When they saw this woman they would definitely think she she was a delicious treat. was a delicious treat.
"Excuse me. What did you say?"
He glanced across the yard where she was still standing by her car. Feeling frustrated as h.e.l.l and fighting for control he walked down the steps, not taking his eyes off her. "I said you are late and your pay will be docked accordingly. The agency said you would be here at eight and it"s now after nine. I have twenty men you"ll need to feed at lunchtime. I hope there won"t be a problem because I have plenty to do this morning and the agency a.s.sured me that you knew your way around a kitchen."
Chloe resisted the urge to ask what he was talking about. Instead she spoke up and said, "Yes, I know my way around a kitchen."
"Then get to it. I"ll be back for lunch and we can talk then, but I can tell you now that one of my pet peeves is tardiness," he said, moving toward his truck.
From what Chloe gathered he was expecting a cook who evidently was late in arriving. She should speak up now and explain to him that she was not the cook but he seemed to be in such a hurry. "Wait!"
He paused, turned sensual dark eyes on her and she felt a heated sensation rush up her spine at the same time she felt the tenderness in the nipples pressed against her blouse. "Look, lady, I don"t have time to wait. I"m needed over at the shearing plant as we speak. You"ll find everything you need in the kitchen."
His voice was hard, yet at the same time it sounded s.e.xy. And she couldn"t believe it when he hopped into his truck and pulled off. She couldn"t do anything but stand there and watch him leave.
So much for having her say to convince him to do the magazine cover. For crying out loud, he thought she was a cook of all things. What she should do was to just get into her car and leave and come back another time, she thought. But where was this cook he was expecting? And did she hear him correctly when he said that come lunchtime there would twenty men to feed?
Chloe rubbed her hands down her face. Surely there was someone she could call who had his cell-who could get word to him of the grave mistake he"d made.
She turned toward the front door. He had left it wide open on the a.s.sumption that she would go inside, and at the moment she didn"t have the common sense not to do so. If nothing else she could call Lucia. There was a chance Lucia knew how to contact a family member who would get word to him.
As Chloe walked up the steps it was easy to tell with the fresh-looking paint around the trim, white siding and brick sides that this was a relatively new house. There were a lot of windows facing the front, which provided a good view of the mountains and that were perfectly positioned to take advantage of the sunlight whenever it did appear, which wasn"t too often this time of year. The porch wrapped around the front of the house, and the rocking chair and swing looked inviting enough to sit in the afternoons and just relax, even now in March when the weather was still cold.
And speaking of March weather, she tightened her jacket around her and walked into the living room, closed the door behind her and turned around. The place was huge and in the midst of the room, a spiral staircase led to the upstairs. There wasn"t a whole lot of furniture in the room, but what was there looked rugged and st.u.r.dy. Few pictures hung on the wall and they were cla.s.sic Norman Rockwell. The floor was hardwood with several area rugs scattered about.
She was about to walk through the living room to where she figured the kitchen was located when the phone rang. She quickly moved toward it, hoping it was either Ramsey Westmoreland or someone who knew how to reach him.
"h.e.l.lo."
"This is Marie Dodson at the employment agency. May I speak with Mr. Ramsey Westmoreland, please?"
"He isn"t here."
"Oh. Then please let him know there was a mix-up and the woman who was supposed to show up at his place this morning as a live-in cook for two weeks was sent somewhere else."
Chloe nodded and tapped her perfectly painted nail against the pad beside the phone. "All right, I"ll be sure to tell him."