Forever Dreams (Montana Brides) Read online

  “Are you looking for fresh air or safety?”

  Trent jumped. His gaze streaked to his right. “Bloody hell, Nathan. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” His friend sat on an old wooden bench pushed against the wall of the barn. He’d stretched his long legs out in front of him, looking like a man who didn’t give a damn about anything.

  “It’s about time someone shook you up. It looks as though you’re recruiting a harem.”

  The scowl on Nathan’s face almost matched the mood Trent was in. He stared at the glowing string of lanterns Jordan had hung on the barn wall. Moths threw themselves at the glass cubes, bewitched by the promise of bright light. All the poor suckers got for their effort was an early exit plan and singed wings. He knew how that felt.

  Trent moved out of the doorway and sat beside Nathan. “I’m an idiot.”

  “I could have told you that years ago.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “When haven’t you been?”

  Trent let his gaze roam over the black night. Cozying up to four available females wasn’t working. He didn’t want any of them. Every time he looked up, Gracie was the first person he saw. And when he couldn’t see her he made sure he found her. “Why aren’t you inside?”

  “Same reason as you, except I’m not being hunted by a pack of females.”

  Trent crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You noticed.”

  “Hard not to. What’s going on?”

  He scuffed the heel of his boot against the ground. “I want to get married and have kids.” There, he’d said it, blurted it out to someone who’d understand the pickle he’d gotten himself into.

  Nathan didn’t laugh. He didn’t say anything. His gaze landed on Trent with something that looked dangerously close to pity lurking in his eyes. “Your mom’s told half of Bozeman you’re looking for a wife.”

  Trent hung his head. The damn craft group had struck again. Put a bunch of mothers together with too much time on their hands and you had instant disaster.

  “Most men opt for one woman,” Nathan said. “You’ve got five of them in there watching every move you make.”

  “Four.”

  “Nope. Last time I looked there were five. Jordan introduced me to a cute little redhead by the name of Gracie. You forgot to mention she’s been living with you for the last couple of weeks. Sally thought she was your fiancée. But after all that back scratching going on in the middle of the dance floor I’m not sure what’s going on.”

  “Your sister heard wrong. If you’d come to the barbecue last week you would have met her. Gracie came to Bozeman to teach at one of the schools. After that she was supposed to stay on the ranch to learn about how we do things in Montana. She ended up on the ranch first.” He cleared his throat, hoping like hell the convoluted tale he’d just told made sense. “Mom organized it months ago.” As if his mom added credibility to the sorriest state of affairs he’d ever been involved in. He should have listened to Gracie and married a heifer.

  Nathan nodded. “Well that makes your idiot tendencies about as clear as mud.”

  “Gracie’s helping me find a wife.”

  “She must think we’re all a bunch of losers if you need help finding a woman. Is it working?”

  “I’m hiding out here with you. What do you think?”

  Nathan snorted. “You don’t want to know.”

  The side door banged open. Trent leapt to his feet. “God almighty, Jordan. I thought you were Jo-Jo.”

  “Relax. She got sick of waiting for you. Last I heard she disappeared with Stan Evans.”

  Trent sank back onto the bench. “Thank God.”

  “You’d better hold onto your thanks because I’m about to make your night even worse. Gracie’s not looking too happy about something. Dave’s in there trying to cheer her up.”

  Trent leapt to his feet. “What the hell is Dave doing?”

  “Nothing you haven’t been doing all night.”

  “Bloody hell,” Trent groaned. “He’d better keep his hands to himself or he’ll have me to answer to.”

  He stalked back inside, scanning the dance floor for his neighbor and a pint-sized redhead. Even when he couldn’t see what she was up to, she managed to tie him in knots.

  And he knew exactly what he was going to do about it.

  Gracie took one last look around the barn. Jordan and Tracey were busy hopping and bopping to a rock n’ roll number and Tess had her feet resting on a chair beside Becky Harris, the owner of the florist store beside Tess’s café. After two-stepping around the barn with a man called Dave, Gracie was ready to call it a night. Karen had organized a team of helpers to clean the barn the next morning and she’d volunteered her services. At least that way she’d be free to disappear without feeling guilty about the mess she’d left behind. She made her way over to the barn doors, smiling and waving goodbye to the people she’d met.

  “Where’s Dave?” Trent moved in front of her, blocking her exit.

  “I don’t know.” Gracie caught the scowl on his face and wondered why a man that had been surrounded by a dozen adoring females would look unhappy.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To bed. It’s nearly eleven o’clock.” Gracie dropped her eyes to the buttons of his shirt. She crossed her arms in front of her chest before remembering what that did to the length of her skirt. So she held onto the lasso on her waist instead. “I promised Karen I’d help clean the barn in the morning, so I figured now was as good a time as any to leave.” Taking a step to her right, she tried to walk around him.

  He took a step to his left, blocking her escape. “Did you manage to catch up with Kristina?”

  “No. She couldn’t make it.” She tried making another move. He stepped closer.

  “You haven’t danced with me all night. How about one round on the dance floor before you call it quits?”

  Clenching her fists into tight balls, Gracie glanced up into his handsome face. Lord help foolish women with reckless dreams. “I thought you’d be all danced out by now.”

  A shadow passed across his face. “A man could say the same about you. I don’t think you missed a dance all night.”

  “Sure, Trent McKenzie. You really had time to keep track of me.” She moved again.

  He reached forward, holding onto her shoulders as she tried to spin away from him. “Come on short-stuff. Just follow my lead and we’ll do fine.” His hands traveled down her shoulders, skimming her arms until they curled around her fingers.

  “I don’t think so,” Gracie said. She struggled to come up with an excuse to get away from him, but she couldn’t think straight with his fingers rubbing her hands. “My feet are sore.”

  He pulled her gently toward him. “I never thought I’d see the day when Gracie Donnelly would be scared to dance with a lonesome cowboy.”

  The hint of a smile tugged at her lips. “You haven’t got a lonesome bone in your body, Trent McKenzie. And I’m not scared. I’m selective.”

  A lopsided smirk was all the response she got. The man had a nerve to dare her to do anything. After the way he’d been cavorting with girlfriends one through four it was a wonder he could string two words together let alone move his body to the beat of another dance.

  He tugged her hands.

  “Fine. One dance and that’s all.” She set her jaw in a stubborn line, getting ready to be plastered from hip to cheek against his body. He wasted no time hauling her close. From the moment they hit the dance floor, Trent pressed her firmly against his body, wrapping Gracie in a warm cocoon of heat. Relaxing against his chest, she struggled to remember exactly why she didn’t want to dance with him.

  Tonight had left her nerves raw and her heart pulverized. Watching Trent socialize with his four candidates shouldn’t have bothered her half as much as it did. Dreaming up the barn dance had to have been one of the craziest things she’d ever done. She’d even rung the women, for cripes sake, to make sure they’d be here to stroke Trent’s ego in the hop
es of becoming the next Mrs. McKenzie.

  She’d never come to Montana with the thought of falling for a stubborn cowboy. She’d come to Montana to find her father. But here she was, battle weary and heart sore, still trying to work out where she’d gone wrong.

  When the music stopped, Trent held her hand and led her toward the doors. “Come on. I’ll walk you back to the house.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Taking a deep breath, she moved outside. Gracie needed some distance between their bodies. She’d been lost in the touch and smell of a certain cowboy taking her on a two person joy ride in the middle of the barn.

  The crisp night air stung her hot skin, focusing her brain. She stood her ground, unwilling to share more of the evening with Trent. “You stay with your guests and I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “No arguments, let’s go.” Shrugging out of his jacket, he draped it gently around her shoulders, drawing the front panels close so that she was surrounded in his warmth.

  “What’s this for?” She looked down at the jacket, feeling the silky softness of well worn denim brush her bare skin.

  “It’s cold out. A girl could get a mighty fine chill in the dress you’ve got on.”

  The dress in question had caused quite a stir. More than one set of eyes had passed a slow glance down her body, and more than once she’d wished the skirt had been a little longer. Gracie pulled the jacket close and moved across the gravel yard beside Trent. Music followed them on the still night air, interrupted by bursts of laughter from the guests still partying in the barn.

  As they reached the front door, Gracie handed his jacket back to him. “Thanks for the loan. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Not so fast, honey.”

  Gracie frowned when he followed her into the house. “If you want to talk about your four women, it will have to wait until the morning. I’m really not in the mood to dissect their good and bad points.”

  He hung his jacket on the clothes hook in the entrance, the corners of his mouth turning up at the frown on her face. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the four names on the list.”

  Gracie could feel her patience wearing thin. Standing in the middle of his entrance hall on a Saturday night wasn’t the best time to talk in riddles. Especially to a girl who felt like she’d just given away the major prize in a raffle without knowing how.

  He moved in close, holding her hands in his. “Honey, I’ve wanted to kiss you all night. If this isn’t something you want then you’d better stop me now.”

  Gazing up at him, she prayed he couldn’t feel the beat of her pulse throbbing through her veins. Or hear the rush of her breath as she struggled to ignore the hands wrapped around hers. This was so not right, so much of everything that couldn’t happen. “What about the four women on your list?”

  “There’s only one I’m interested in and she’s standing right in front of me.”

  Raising her hand, Gracie rubbed her finger along the dimple in Trent’s chin. She couldn’t quite understand how they’d gone from goodnight, to let’s make out, but to a woman on the edge of a melt-down his offer sounded pretty good.

  She moved the tip of her finger from Trent’s face to his chest, smiling at his soft groan. Excitement raced through Gracie’s body. “I don’t know what’s going on between us, but kissing you is probably about the dumbest thing I could do right now.” Her hand rested lightly on his shirt. The beat of his heart pounded beneath her palm.

  Bending down, he captured her lips with his mouth. Gracie’s body rose on tiptoes, meeting him halfway. She didn’t stand a chance against a kiss that sent a wave of longing straight through her body. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she pushed against his mouth, sliding her tongue along his, matching him stroke for stroke. Trent pulled her up into his arms, holding her between the wall and his body. She melted against him, clutching his shoulders as his hips teased every last scrap of sense away. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand a minute more of the sweet torture overwhelming her body, he pulled back, gasping for air.

  Resting his chin on the top of her head, he gently kissed her brow, then slid her to the ground. “I’ve got to get back to the barn. We can talk in the morning.”

  “What?” Gracie stared at him. He couldn’t have said what she thought he had.

  “I’m going back to the barn.”

  “Now?”

  He took a step back, the frown on his face telling her he didn’t have a clue why she was upset.

  “You can’t kiss a girl senseless for the second time and then just leave,” she spluttered. “What do you think I am? A McDonald’s checkout for sex-starved males?” Her temper spiraled almost as high as her hormones. “I never took you for a tease ’em and leave ’em kind of man, but I guess desperation can bring out the worst in people.” Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she glared with all her might, wishing she’d never locked lips with Trent McKenzie.

  His mouth dropped open and a hot flash of heat scorched his face. “What did you want?” He stepped forward, glaring at her as if this was all her fault. “Do you want to finish what we just started with over a hundred people still kicking up a storm in the barn? Do you want to keep kissing until neither of us had a spit of brain power left between our ears?”

  “It would have helped if one of us had more intelligence between their ears before we started,” she yelled.

  His eyes turned pitch black. She didn’t like the predatory gleam sending danger signals along her body. “There’s nothing intelligent about this…” Reaching down he lifted her off the floor, hauling her against his body. His mouth devoured Gracie in a kiss that made every bone in her body dissolve. Wrapping her legs around his waist, she pulled him tight, gasping as he pushed against her body. Her dress felt too tight, too hot against her skin.

  As her fingers ran through his hair, an image of Jo-Jo Allen fiddling with the same head of hair flashed through her brain. Gracie wouldn’t be a convenient body for anyone. Her fingers tightened, yanking his head off her face. Sucking great lungfuls of air into her oxygen starved body she scowled at him. “Go back to the barn. There are other women in there that might be more receptive to your needs.” Gracie swore she could see lightning streak out his furious eyes.

  “It might help if you let go of my hair and unhooked your legs.”

  Gracie’s hands dropped to her sides and her feet dangled in mid air before he let go of her bottom. A different kind of heat scorched her body. Embarrassment.

  Without a backward glance, Trent stormed out the front door, slamming it shut on its hinges.

  Gracie stared at where he’d been standing. Her legs wobbled so much she didn’t think she’d be able to make it up the stairs in one piece. Trent McKenzie must have earned an honors degree in kissing. Her lips felt swollen and tingly. So deliciously used that she had to stop herself from imagining what else those lips could do to a woman. She slid down the wall before her legs buckled beneath her.

  So much for sorting out her life. She’d just managed to make a complete fool of herself, twisting her life into so many knots that she doubted she’d ever be able to unravel the mess.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Gracie thought she’d be awake for ages after being kissed senseless. But she’d been so exhausted she’d fallen into a deep and dreamless sleep until the first rays of sunshine streamed through her bedroom window. Like a bucket of ice-cold water hitting her in the face, she realized she’d had a lucky escape last night. Trent might have sent her hormones to heaven, but locking lips with him wasn’t going to solve either of their problems.

  She groaned as she checked the time. If she didn’t make a move soon, Karen would be here to start the monster clean-up. The worst thing that could happen would be for Trent’s mom to see her running around the house in her nightshirt. God knew what thoughts those images would send her way.

  Pulling herself out of bed, she threw on the first clothes she spotted and headed for the stairs. Halfway across the living room
she smelt fresh coffee with a hint of toast thrown in. Either Karen had arrived early or Trent was already awake. She hoped like crazy she’d find Karen in the kitchen and not her kissing buddy from last night.

  “Morning, Gracie.”

  She stopped in the doorway, her breath catching in her throat. Trent. “Morning,” she mumbled. Her brain went into shut-down mode as she stared at the morning stubble shadowing his jaw. And nothing could have prepared her for the lips that were smiling in her direction. Remembering just how skilled that mouth had been sent a rush of heat to her face.

  “Do you want me to put some toast down for you?”

  “Hmm?” She wasn’t paying attention. Her mind had wandered away from the kitchen and into the foyer.

  “Toast. Do you want some?”

  Nodding her head, she headed for the fridge. A glass of orange juice would unfuzz her brain quicker than a cold shower. And she needed both, real bad.

  Trent pushed some bread into the toaster. “We need to talk. I’ve made my mind up about which woman I want to marry.”

  The bottle of juice in her hands thumped against the counter. She needed to sit down. Going from lustful images about an available male, to lustful images about a man intended for some other woman’s arms made her feel woozy.

  She rubbed the back of her neck and took a few deep breaths. Wondering which of the four women had caught Trent’s eye was giving her a headache. It had to be Jo-Jo. She’d circled him all night, like a shark sensing fresh blood. Gracie had crossed her off the list as soon as she’d seen her long legs and other defining assets. Far too shallow for her liking, but maybe Trent liked shallow?

  The only other woman she’d considered had been Mary-Beth. Although she also had long legs and a full chest, Mary-Beth seemed like a really nice person. Maybe too nice for a rat-bag on the prowl for a wife.