A Sparkle In The Cowboy's Eyes

Always ripe with the juiciest news, the local grapevine had it that Merideth had come home alone to bury her baby. Though the lack of a husband shocked some, it didn’t faze John Lee. This was the nineties, after all, and more and more women were opting for single motherhood.

As he watched her, he thought he saw a shudder pass through her. Then she turned, shifting onto her stomach, blocking his view of her face. But her backside was almost as interesting as her front. Dimples winked at him from above a nicely rounded butt.

John Lee chuckled as he turned his horse for the well-worn path.

Merideth always was a flirt.

“Don’t you know that it’s a crime to sunbathe nude in Austin?”

Startled by the male voice, Merideth jerked up her head. Though a cowboy hat shaded the face of the man sitting on the tall bay standing opposite her, she recognized him immediately. That cocksure grin. Those broad shoulders, thick thighs. Sun-bleached, sandy-blond hair that brushed his collar. Eyes as blue as a summer Texas sky, that always seemed to tease. Features carved into a breathtakingly handsome face.

John Lee Carter.

His grin deepened. “They’ve even outlawed skinny-dipping at Hippie Hollow on Lake Travis. A crying shame, too, if you ask me. Personally, I’ve always thought of the human body as kinda like art, something meant to be appreciated.”

Another time, Merideth might have agreed with him, even flirted with him and invited him to join her on the warm rock.

But not today.

Today she felt nothing but resentment that he’d invaded her privacy and disrupted her solitude, something she so rarely found on the Double-Cross.

Planting her elbows on the rock, she tipped her sunglasses to the end of her nose. From the devilish gleam in his eye, she could tell that he was enjoying the fact that he had caught her at a disadvantage—him being fully dressed, and she wearing nothing but her birthday suit. She narrowed an eye at him. “Well, it’s good to know that some things never change,” she offered dryly. “John Lee Carter is still seeking cheap thrills.”

He tossed back his head and laughed. “And you’re still as sassy as you always were.”

He continued to grin at her, and Merideth knew that he was just being ornery. He’d love nothing better than to watch her squirm in embarrassment at being caught sunbathing nude, but Merideth refused to give him the pleasure. She met his gaze squarely, evenly. “Are you going to sit there all day gawking, or are you going to turn your back so that I can get dressed?”

He squinted up at the sun as if pondering the question, then dropped his gaze to hers, a slow smile crooking one corner of his mouth. “I don’t know, the view’s pretty good from up here. But, then again, I wouldn’t want you to burn. How much sunscreen are you wearing?”

The look Merideth shot him was glacial. “Not enough.” She stabbed a finger at the bridge of her sunglasses, shooting them back into place on her nose, then grabbed for the towel beneath her. Quickly, she sat up, wrapping it around her...but not before John Lee caught one last glimpse of those luscious breasts.

He let out a low whistle that turned Merideth’s frown into a scowl. With a huff, she tucked one comer of the towel between her breasts to hold it in place, then tipped her face up to his. “What are you doing here, anyway? This is private property, you know.”

“Just picking up a few strays that wandered onto Double-Cross land.” He plucked a toothpick from his hatband and stuck it between his teeth, then lazily rolled it to one corner of his mouth. “What are you doing here? You decide to give up acting and take up ranching?”

She quickly glanced away. “Maybe,” she replied, fixing her gaze on something in the distance.

John Lee blinked hard to make sure it was Merideth he was talking to. Maybe? His comment had been meant as a joke, one he figured would get a rise out of Merideth. Hell, she hated the Double-Cross, always had, and had hightailed it for New York right after her old man died. He was sure her stay on the Double-Cross was a temporary one, that once she’d fully recovered from the accident he’d heard she was involved in, she’d haul ass right back to the Big Apple and her career there as an actress.

“You’re giving up acting?”

“Maybe. I haven’t decided yet.”

Maybe, again. What in the hell is going on with her? he wondered as he stared at her profile. Though her chin was tipped in that I’m-the-queen-of-the-manor look she wore so well, he sensed more than saw the quiver in it.

She’s still grieving, he realized, then wanted to kick himself for his own insensitivity. “I was sorry to hear about your baby,” he offered gently.

She dropped her chin to her chest and with trembling fingers began to pluck at the towel that draped her thigh. Her murmured “Thank you” was so low it was almost lost on the soft breeze that carried it to John Lee.

She looked so pitiful sitting there that John Lee regretted even mentioning her loss. “Are you staying up at the ranch house?” he asked, hoping to shift the conversation to a less sensitive topic.

A sigh lifted her shoulders. “Yes, though it’s awkward since Mandy and Jesse married.”

“You’ve stayed there before with them,” he reminded her.

“But Sam was still there then. Now she’s married and living with Nash on his ranch.” She drew her knees up, hugging them to her chest. “She’s at the Double-Cross almost every day, but it’s just not the same. I feel as if I don’t belong there anymore, that I’m a burden to everyone, though they assure me I’m not.”

They were spoiling her again, John Lee decided. He’d grown up with the McCloud sisters and had witnessed firsthand how both Mandy and Sam coddled their little sister. They were probably so busy hovering over Merideth, smothering her with attention, that they didn’t realize that they were only making things worse for her.

Merideth didn’t need spoiling. What she needed—in his mind, at least—was a swift kick in the butt to get her up and running again. As her friend, he figured it his duty to give her that kick.

“So why don’t you move out?” he challenged her. “You’re a big girl.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Move out? But where would I go? What would I do?”

That she would even ask him those questions convinced John Lee that he was right. Merideth needed help, and fast. A distraction, he decided. That’s what she needed. Something to take her mind off her loss, her problems.

And he had just the distraction she needed.

He braced a forearm over the saddle horn and leaned down. “How about dinner tonight? My place. I’ll throw a couple of steaks on the grill, ice down a few beers and we’ll talk about your options. Whaddya say, Merideth?”

“I don’t know, John Lee,” she murmured, resting her chin on the tops of her knees. “I’m not very good company right now.”

“So when were you ever?” He chuckled when her chin came up, her blue eyes sparking fire. Yep, he could still get a rise out of her. Not all was lost...yet.

“Seven sharp,” he told her. “Be ready.” He wheeled his horse around and loped away before she could refuse his invitation.

Merideth sat before her mirror, studying her reflection. Her eyes were dull, her face pale—in spite of the hours she’d spent sunbathing—and her cheeks hollow, a result of the weight she’d lost.

Grief was not a pretty sight.

With the hand of an artist she applied makeup, shading some areas of her face, adding color to others, until she’d created the mask she needed—one that her sisters would never see beyond.

But could she fool John Lee?

When he’d caught her sunbathing nude earlier that afternoon, her body wasn’t all she’d unintentionally bared to him. She’d bared her soul as well.

But not tonight. Not ever again. Merideth McCloud never displayed her weaknesses or her desires. She’d learned early in life that doing so gave people power over her...and no one would ever control her again.

With a defiant shake of her head, she pulled the band from her hair and combed her fingers through the thick blond locks, lifting and adding height and volume.

Rising she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming performance, the same one she’d given every day since she’d arrived at the ranch to keep her sisters from worrying about her, from guessing the depth of her grief, the extent of her financial problems.

As she did when she took on any role, she closed her eyes and focused inwardly, emptying her mind of every thought, her heart of every emotion, until she was hollow, a vessel waiting to be filled, a mound of clay waiting to be shaped.

Merideth McCloud. The most difficult role she’d ever taken on. The youngest of Lucas McCloud’s three daughters. The one without a care in the world but her own wants and desires. The one with the attitude.

Slowly she felt the tension ease from her shoulders and the energy begin to surge through her. She opened her eyes, one eyebrow arching a little higher than the other, her lips already curving into the sultry pout she was known for. She winked and the reflection winked back.