Gone Country (Rough Riders #14)(127)

He kept touching her as he ditched his sweatpants and T-shirt. His hands were in her hair as they landed on the mattress, warm skin meeting warm skin.


His seduction was all consuming. Powerful in a quiet fever of desire. It seemed he’d shown her in a hundred different small ways that he loved her. But this was different. This was action speaking louder than words. This cemented their connection completely. Physically. Emotionally. Permanently.


Watching her eyes, he entered her, stopping when they were fully joined. Letting her see in his eyes everything she brought to him, everything she gave to him when their bodies became one.


Rielle wrapped her legs around his hips. She lifted her arms to circle his neck but he made a growling noise and pinned her right arm above her head. That brought their bodies even closer.


Then he started to move. Showing her that passion didn’t have a set speed. Gavin’s need for her was there in every measured undulation of his hips. In every drawn out glide of his chest against hers.


Sinking into the slow sizzle and burn of his kisses. Breathless in anticipation for the long thrusts of his body linking to hers. This was acceptance. This was love. This was perfection.


And this man was all hers.


By the time he’d taken them to that pinnacle of pleasure, sweat coated their skin. Their hearts thundered. Need clawed with tiny teeth.


He ground his pelvis into hers and her orgasm unfurled. Unending, glorious. And with her inner walls rhythmically clamping around his shaft, Gavin let himself go.


There was no need for words. Rielle wasn’t sure if there were words for what’d just happened between them.


They curled into each other and drifted into peaceful sleep.


Branding day dawned misty and warm. Gavin had no idea what to expect, so he asked his brothers. Ben and Quinn had looked at the sky, looked at the ground and said, “Mud.”


Dalton, Tell and Brandt arrived early to help round up cattle. Ben, Quinn and Brandt were on horseback, the rest of them were on ATVs. An hour and a half later the herd milled around the corrals. The calves inside; the mamas outside. Mamas did not like to be separated from their babies. Babies didn’t like being away from mamas. The noise was deafening. They all had to shout over the din.



Other McKay cousins arrived and Charlie told him it took four days of branding to get all the McKay cattle branded. One day at their place. Kade and Kane’s, and Brandt, Tell and Dalton’s calves were branded on the same day. And two solid days to mark the calves that Cord, Colby and Colt raised.


Gavin watched as the guys worked in teams of two. They grabbed a calf from the pen, pinned it on its side. One held the head; one held the rear. Quinn and Ben did the branding with the irons. Libby and Ainsley handled vaccinating the calves. Gavin never imagined the suit and high-heel-wearing bank president down in the muck, but she got right in there.


Cal used the small round iron for de-horning if needed, and Charlie was tasked with castration. One of Colby’s boys was in charge of the “nut bucket” and followed Charlie as he cut off the testicles, turning potential bulls into steers. Gavin peered into the big dump bucket. There looked to be a whole lot of Rocky Mountain oysters.


As the day wore on they were all grateful for the cloud cover. Charlie had warned him to be prepared for anything because the month of May could be as hot as eighty or cold enough for heavy snow.


At first Gavin had been self-conscious about jumping into the fray, but his curiosity won out over pride. It was a challenge, holding the head of an animal as its flesh got seared, its balls got whacked off and its horns were burned away. Down in the trenches the air was thick with the stench of burning hide. By the time he took a breather, his coveralls were covered in mud, manure and hair.


His cousins teased him. “We’ll make a rancher out of you yet.”


After they finished branding, everyone showed up at Quinn and Libby’s. Kids and dogs ran wild. Beneath two canopies tables were piled with enough food to feed an army.


Gavin looked around for Sierra. She waved to him and continued her conversation with Colt’s wife India. Hopefully she wasn’t discussing future tattoo options.


When he saw Rielle, laughing with Ainsley and Libby, he had a feeling of rightness. Of contentment.


Rielle strolled over. “Hey, cowboy. So after a day of branding are you ditching your loafers for spurs to wrassle cattle?”


“No.” Gavin snuck in a kiss or three. “I’d rather wrassle you. You don’t put up nearly the fight.”


She smiled, then shot a look at Sierra before she leaned closer. “What do you know about Sierra’s presentation? Because she’s nervous.”


“Did you talk to her?”


“I tried. But she’s a little high-strung, like someone else I know.”


He raised his eyebrows. “Me?”


“Nope. Me.” She pecked him on the mouth. “Gotta run. Save me a seat at the table.”


Even with so many people the chow line moved fast. Gavin sat across from Keely and Jack. Sierra scooted over when Rielle showed up and didn’t say much.


“Keely, how are you feeling?” Rielle asked.


“Good, for the most part. I’m tired. I could sleep all damn day. This kid kicks all the time.”