Night Walker's Woman Ch. 03

His heart leapt into his throat when he saw her working along side Hector, preparing the corral, spreading fresh straw. He scanned the front porch until he saw Angel swinging with Senora Ramirez. The girl was using her feet and legs to kick, trying to make the heavy porch swing sail far higher than it could. Disappointment shown in her face at her efforts.

He stopped the truck at the end of the circular driveway and opened his door, motioning for his grandfather to join him. Even before his boot hit the hard clay ground, her smell drifted upon the morning breeze to him. Not even the apple shampoo and soap could cover the smell of worry and exhaustion that clothed her like heavy coat on a hot day.

He wanted to run to her, scope her in his arms and carry her off to bed. Not to claim her as his body demanded though, but to lull her into the rest that she needed, to kiss away every single heavy worry line in her forehead and erase the dark circles beneath those mesmerizing hazel windows into her soul. He held himself in check, reminding himself that he did not have the right, not yet anyway. But soon.

He was so caught up in studying his woman, inspecting each inch of her after their long separation, that he almost missed the look of shock and awe upon his grandfather's face as the man turned not to join him and his woman by the barn, but towards the house and where the child sat swinging with her caretaker. "Grandfather," he called, but the man kept walking straight towards Angel. Rex was not surprised, but Jaycee seemed to be as she dropped the shovel in her hand and shimmied over the rough wooden boards of the corral. His hand shoot out to capture her arm as she went past him.

"Let me go, you maroon. I need to get to my daughter." She struggled in his arms as he drew her closer to his body. "Sex might be all you think about, but I have a child to consider. After yesterday," she shook her head almost in accusation.

"My grandfather would never harm a child. Especially not your daughter," he soothed as he kept his eye upon the old man. He studied him as he stopped at the steps, kneeling upon the bottom one. Rex noted something unusual, a calm, almost adoration in the man's face. He was reminded of the stained glass in the church that his mother attended. The three wise men kneeling before the baby Jesus in the manager. Rex held his woman back, giving his grandfather time alone with the child.

But his job was not easy as Jaycee twisted and turned in his arms, "I said let me go, Mister Ranger."

He shook his head again, "Please, Mitawa Naya, give him just a moment with her. You have my word, he means her no harm."

"Yeah, well, whether he means her harm or not, doesn't matter with Angel. She doesn't handle disruptions to her schedule too well or new people. You should know that after yesterday," she shook her head and he could see the tears glistening in her eyes. She brushed them off with the back of her hands, but that only succeeded in smearing dirt across her alabaster skin. The rough pad of his thumb repeated the motion erasing both the smear and her tears.

***

Jaycee forced herself to swallow the knot of fear that threatened to choke her. She had barely slept all night. Not only was she afraid to leave her daughter unattended after such a violent episode, but her mind could not seem to quiet the battle that raged inside. Things had gotten out of control. Again.

She was somewhat used to the lack of control she felt when it came to her daughter's illness. While she still had not learned to accept it, she had been living with it for so long that it was a familiar enemy, perhaps the way people in war zones learned to live with terrorists.

When she decided to return to practicing law, she had not thought that she would be opening the door to let even more chaos into their lives. But it seemed that was what she had done with this case. And this man.

She took a deep steadying breath as she watched the old man kneeling before her daughter. Granted, he seemed as harmless as Rex asserted, but still it was not him that she worried about. It was her daughter's reaction to him, to anything new or different in their small world. She sighed as the child smiled back at the man, they seemed to be laughing at something, even Lupe joined in the mirth.

She looked up into the handsome man, who haunted what few moments of sleep she had managed to get the night before. Every time her eyes closed the dreams he filled her mind, his lips hot against hers, his hands caressing her body. Going further than he ever had, burrowing between her legs, he rubbed the tender flesh until she cried out and arched off the bed, a powerful orgasm draining her of all energy and calming her turbulent mind.

His forehead leaned against hers, "Fuck woman! Do not think about that when we are surrounded by people, when we have those horses to see to."

Jaycee blushed a beet red as she remembered that this man could read her thoughts. What he must think of her. Of the wild and kinky fantasies that had never seemed to be a problem until he came into her life. "That's it," she exclaimed. "It's all your fault. You're planting these ideas in my mind somehow."

He chuckled as he shook his head, "Afraid not. Those fantasies are all yours, sweetheart. One day soon, I'll share a few of my own with you though." His thumb brushed her cheek once more and she fought everything inside of her to keep from leaning into the tender caress. "But right now, we need to get those horses out of the trailer and settled."

She shook her head, "In a minute. I just need to check on Angel. See how she's feeling. I mean after yesterday," she blushed again as she admitted how vulnerable she really felt. "I just need to make sure she is okay."

Rex studied her for a moment. Those lips that had been so hot and firm in her dreams twitched a bit at the corners before turning up in a soft smile. "All right. I want to you meet the old man anyway."

She tried to think about anything except the delicious feel of his hand at the small of her back. It was protective and yet promised a thousand erotic delights at thee same time. It was her turn to curse as she caught herself once more and knew from one side ways glance that he had heard every single thought. 'One times one is one, one times two is two, one times three is three,' she thought.

Deep, rich laughter wrapped about her as his eyes caught hers, "And here I thought you would take to reciting line and verse of the law."

"Yeah, well, that takes too much work to remember and my brain doesn't work that well when I'm around you," her hand flew to cover her mouth as she realized how much she had revealed to him with her words.

"It's okay, Mitawa Naya. Mine does not work so well around you either." His blond head nodded towards the truck and trailer, "I know we should get to those horses, but all I can think about is making you laugh, erasing those tiny worry lines creases your forehead, and carrying you inside to that bed and re-enacting every single one of those erotic dreams of yours. But there are too many people around and those horses do need our attention. So let's go check up on the old man and Angel, then get our work done."

She nodded as they headed across the yard towards the small group on the porch. "Grandfather, may I present Jaycee Riley. Mitawa Naya, I would like you to meet my grandfather, Raymond Wild Horse."

She studied the man as he held out a weathered and slightly misshaped hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said as she took it. But she shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as the man's dark eyes seemed to bore into her very soul. It was worse because of how vulnerable she felt knowing that his grandson read her every thought, his protective hand at the small of her back moved up to drape over her shoulder in a clear show of possession that had all three people on the porch smiling broadly.

"No, child, it is I, who am honored to meet you. I have waited long for this day, to know that my Rex's soul is safe in the care of his mate," Jaycee would have protested the man's wild assumption except for the bright light that shown in those eyes. What would it hurt to let him think what he liked if it brought him happiness, he looked like a man, who had seen far too little of it in his lifetime.

He turned towards her daughter and held out his other hand. Angel stepped forward with a huge grin, "And this special one is but an added blessing from the Great Spirit. I am humbled and honored to count you both among our family."

Jaycee opened her mouth to correct the man, she could not allow Angel to get caught up in this fantasy. But as her daughter's tiny hand meet the mangled dark one, she felt a zing of power. Like a static electric shock but a thousand, hundred-thousand, times more powerful. If not for Rex's arm about her shoulder and his other hand that came up to encircle her waist, she would have collapsed from the power of it.

"What the fuck?" she exclaimed, so shocked by it all that she forgot to filter her words around Angel. Her knees threatened to buckle as her eyes travelled back and forth between the old man and her child.

"See to the animals, my son. I will speak with your woman and child," said the man as he patted the wooden porch next to him. "Sit, my daughter, there is much I want to ask you."

Panic welled up inside of her. Since the moment she laid eyes on Rex Ranger in that courtroom, she had felt that her life was spiraling out of control, but looking into the black depths of this man's eyes, it felt more like water circling the drain and she was just a couple of turns from being sucked under forever. She fought to breath as fear of what lay on the other side of that drain consumed her.

Then she felt his strength holding her up, "No, grandfather. You take Angel inside for a bit. I will see to the horses and my woman." Rex exchanged a stare with the old man and for a moment she felt that perhaps they communicated in some unspoken manner. But that was crazy, as crazy as him actually reading her mind. She began to laugh hysterically.

Lupe looked at her oddly as she stepped forward, "Yes, Senor, I am sure that la niña would like to show you her room. She has many horses there, do you not, Angel?"

Her daughter beamed, actually glowed at the man as she tugged on his arthritic hand. Jaycee squinted as for a split second it seemed that the man's fingers straightened under Angel's touch. She shook her head. Nothing made sense in the world anymore. And she feared nothing ever would again.