Cowboy 12 Pack Read online

  “Don’t screw it up.” Brand gave Emma a hug.

  “Geez, Brand, you stink.” Emma pushed him away, realizing she would have to do a lot more to convince her brothers this was the wrong man. She cocked her brows upward and gazed into Cooper’s face, trying to act natural, knowing she was about to set him up for the fall. Literally. Hell, desperate times called for desperate measures. “Up for that picnic now?”

  Cooper glanced down at his naked chest, gleaming with sweat. “I could do with a shower.”

  “Got one better than that.” Emma went in for the first kill. “I’d planned on taking you to a little pool on Willow Creek where we could swim and enjoy the lunch Mrs. Fuentez packed.”

  “That’s a great idea.” Dillon grinned. “Especially after sweating in the field. Who’s in?”

  Ace backhanded Dillon in the gut. “I think they’d enjoy it better just the two of them.”

  Cooper’s lips twisted and he scrubbed a hand through his sweaty hair. “I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

  With an eyebrow arched, Emma smiled. “Swimsuits aren’t required.” She flounced away, her smile widening. “I’ll collect the food.” That would get her brothers’ dander up. Though she was twenty-five years old, they still treated her like the kid sister who had to be protected and coddled.

  Skinny-dipping with a stranger should have all of their brotherly warning bells pinging.

  Inside, Emma let the smile fade and she raced for the refrigerator in the kitchen.

  Señora Fuentez met her at the door carrying a leather saddle bag, bulging with the picnic items.

  “Oh, thank you, Mama Fuentez.” Emma pecked the older woman on the cheek.

  “What game are you playing con tus hermanos y el muy apuesto hombre.”

  Emma’s cheeks burned and she glanced away from Mrs. Fuentez. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not playing any games with my brothers or Cooper.”

  The housekeeper’s eyes narrowed and she hmphed. “You play with fire, hija.”

  “Then I best not get burned, right?” Emma forced a smile, took the saddlebag and turned. “Thank you for the food.”

  When Emma emerged on the porch, her brothers were smiling and talking with Cooper, teasing him about the pool and clapping him on the back.

  “Now, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” Colton advised.

  “That leaves the field wide open.” Ace frowned, digging into his back pocket for his wallet from which he extracted an accordion of condoms. “If you do half of what Colton would do, play it safe.” He handed the foil packets to Cooper who accepted them, his cheeks red beneath his tan.

  “Seriously?” Emma stomped down the steps. This date was becoming a nightmare. “Here.” She shoved the saddlebag at Cooper. “Make yourself useful. As for you.” She scanned the group and glared at her brothers. “What happened to brotherly overprotectiveness?”

  “You keep telling us you’re twenty-five.” Ace crossed his arms. “You can make your own decisions, choose your own path. You don’t need us interfering in your love life.”

  Now, they see the light. Too bad she’d already laid the groundwork to go skinny-dipping with a veritable stranger. She let her gaze pass over Cooper’s naked chest. Not as if she hadn’t seen her brother’s naked. They swam in front of her unabashed. If she’d seen one man, she shouldn’t be at all embarrassed by another.

  Then why was her body on fire and her palms sweating? Must be the Texas heat. That had to be it. Her lips firmed. “Let’s get this picnic over with.”

  “Taking the four-wheelers?” Brand asked.

  She had planned on taking the ATVs, but given the disaster of Cooper’s stellar performance, another idea blossomed in Emma’s thoughts. Why her brothers hadn’t already thought of it, she didn’t know. “I think we’ll ride the horses.”

  “They could use the exercise.” Ace nodded toward Cooper. “You ride?”

  Cooper shrugged. “Some.”

  Emma glanced sideways as he walked with her toward the barn. He’d slung the saddlebag over his naked shoulder and he looked even more rugged and appealing than ever.

  What was wrong with her? She didn’t want to like him, and she certainly didn’t like that her brothers had completely given over the task of testing him to her. So be it. Emma squared her shoulders and marched into the barn, selected the biggest, baddest, orneriest horse on the ranch for Cooper to ride. Her brothers would see him get thrown, lose all respect and mark Cooper off the list of marriageable men for Emma.

  A stab of guilt struck Emma as she led Diablo, the black stallion, out of his stall. The horse snorted and tugged against the lead rope. She’d just about decided to put him back when somebody stepped into the doorway to the barn, blocking the sunlight. By the way he stood with the saddlebag looped over his shoulder, there was no mistaking the person. Cooper moved deeper into the barn.

  “Mine or yours?” he asked.

  Emma started to say hers, but then she’d have to ride Diablo and the last time she had, she’d ended up in the emergency room with a broken rib. Ace and Colton liked riding him because he was a challenge and gave them some much needed practice bronc riding for when they got a wild hair to do the rodeo circuit.

  “I was just moving him to a different stall.” She couldn’t, with a clear conscience, let Cooper ride Diablo. What if he got seriously injured just mounting the high-spirited stallion? “I think you should ride Jack. He’s calm and has a smooth gait.”

  “What’s wrong with this one?” Cooper took the lead rope and ran his hand over the stallion’s neck.

  Diablo’s nostrils flared and he pawed the dirt.

  “He takes a bit more to manage than a pleasant ride. I don’t recommend him.”

  Cooper smiled at Emma, one side of his mouth hitching higher. “Don’t think I can handle him?”

  Her knees turned to mush. “I didn’t say that. I don’t know you that well, and I don’t know how good a rider you are.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Diablo,” she said, her voice flat.

  Cooper led the horse to the side and tied his lead. “Saddle?”

  “In the tack room.” Emma stood back, chewing her bottom lip. He was going along with her original plan. So why was she so upset? She’d tried to talk him out of riding Diablo, if he chose to ignore her, so be it. Emma shrugged and led Daisy, her palomino mare, out of her stall and slipped a blanket and saddle over her back.

  Cooper tossed a blanket and saddle over the stallion’s back like he’d done it before and with an ease that could only be from years of experience.

  Emma slipped the bridle over Daisy’s head and looped the reins over her neck. “I thought you lived in Dallas?”

  “Outside Dallas. Not too far from here.” Cooper lengthened the stirrup on the saddle and checked the tightness of the girth. “And you train horses? Thoroughbred or Quarter horses?”

  “Both.” Emma led Daisy past the stranger. “And you make a living by trading stock?”

  “As it says in my dossier.” He gathered Diablo’s reins and followed her out of the barn. “And you like to ride, hunt and fish.”

  “How do you stay in such great shape if you work at a desk all day long?”

  “I don’t.”

  “I’d say you’re in shape.”

  He laughed, the sound a deep rumble in his bare chest. “I stay in shape, I don’t work at a desk all day long. There are such things as mobile applications. For the most part, I work from wherever I happen to be.”

  Emma frowned. She’d have to have a talk with Leslie. Cooper was not at all what she’d asked for. Where was the pasty accountant with the geek glasses and spare tire around his middle?

  Instead, she’d gotten a tall, dark and incredibly attractive man with enough confidence to give Diablo a try.

  Thank goodness for Diablo, he’d be the clincher. And she didn’t feel a bit bad about it. Cooper had insisted after she’d warned the man.

  Out in the bar
nyard, her brothers worked at unloading the bales of hay into a pole barn nearby.

  When Emma and Cooper emerged, Colton stopped what he was doing, mouth agape. “You’re not letting him ride Diablo, are you?”

  Ace, Brand and Dillon all came to stand with Colton. “Emma, you know how that stallion is.”

  “He’s a regular ball-buster. Let me get you a riding horse.” Dillon stepped toward the barn.

  “No, it’s okay. Emma warned me Diablo has some quirks.”

  Ace snorted. “Quirks? Is that what she told you?”

  “Something like that.” Cooper looped the reins over the horse’s neck and grabbed the saddle horn, stuck his boot in the stirrup and swung up on Diablo.

  No sooner had his full weight hit the saddle than the horse launched his offensive. Diablo arched his back and bounced like a pogo stick around the barnyard in bone-rattling jolts.

  Emma’s brothers hooted.

  “Ride ’em, Cooper!” Brand shouted.

  “Eight seconds, that’s all you need.” Ace grinned and waved his cowboy hat.

  “Show him who’s boss,” Colton said.

  As the horse spun and changed directions, Dillon grimaced. “Hang on, cowboy.”

  Emma cringed and waited. Invariably, Diablo tossed his rider within four seconds.

  Cooper had already gone five and the guys were counting.

  “Six seconds.”

  “Seven.”

  “Eight.”

  Then Cooper flew into the air over the horse’s head, did a full somersault and rolled right back up on his feet.

  The Jacob brothers applauded, while Dillon snagged Diablo’s reins as the horse bolted for the barn.

  “Good job, Coop.” Ace pounded him on the back.

  “Got more balls than I do.” Colton grinned and held out his hand to clasp Cooper’s.

  Shaking her head, Emma moaned, “This is not happening.”

  “He’s good.” Dillon hugged her, his grin grating on Emma’s last nerve. “Eight seconds more than most guys who mount Diablo.”

  “We’re not done yet.” In case Emma thought things couldn’t get worse, Cooper snatched Diablo’s reins and walked him away from the crowd of Jacobs men, speaking quietly to the spooked horse.

  As Diablo was led away, his eyes were wide, his nostrils flaring and he was breathing hard from having bucked off Cooper. He pranced sideways, tugging against the tight hold Cooper had on the reins.

  “What’s he doing?” Dillon asked Emma.

  “Hell if I know.” Emma frowned and waited, holding Daisy’s reins.

  “You done good, sis.” Dillon nodded toward Cooper. “The man’s strong, ain’t afraid of hard work and likes a challenge.”

  “You could do a lot worse,” Colton added.

  “Really? The man’s insane to even try riding Diablo once.” As she said the words, Emma gasped. “Someone better call 9-1-1, he’s up again.”

  “Holy hell, look at him,” Ace whispered.

  No hoots and hollers this time. All five Jacobs stood transfixed as Cooper leaned over Diablo’s neck, talking quietly in his ear.

  The horse whickered softly, but his ears remained perked, not pinned backward like they had been while bucking.

  “I’d never believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes,” Brand said.

  Emma gulped, her heart beating hard against her ribs as Cooper nudged Diablo, sending him trotting over to the gathered brothers.

  “Are you leading the way?” Cooper smiled down at Emma.

  Emma stared up into the clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen, the twinkle in them magnified by the bright shine of his white smile. Awareness tugged deep in her belly. Damn. She was in big trouble. “Y-yes. I’ll lead the way.” This “disaster date” wasn’t turning out like she’d plan.

  Colton leaned close and whispered in her ear, “Don’t screw this one up, sis. We like him.”

  Emma mounted her horse and set off across the pasture at a gallop, without looking back. Maybe she’d get lucky and Diablo would regain his horrible reputation in time to salvage her attempt to sabotage her date. If not, she would have to follow through on her flippant suggestion of skinny-dipping in the creek.

  Chapter Three

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  HIS SHOULDERS ACHED from the hours of hard work tossing up hay bales onto the trailer and his right knee hurt like the devil from being thrown by his mount, but Cooper couldn’t hold back the grin spreading across his face. Hell, this was the most interesting, and perhaps best, first date he’d ever experienced.

  He knew as soon as the Jacobs men stepped up to greet him that he was in for some kind of test to prove he was worthy of taking out their sister. He’d felt good he was up to the challenge and managed to gain the brothers’ approval.

  Since first seeing Emma walk down the steps from the house, he’d been more than taken by her fresh, sun-kissed appearance. He’d caught her staring at him more than once after he’d shed his shirt while hauling hay. Each time, her face had reddened and her pretty green eyes widened. She hadn’t flirted and she’d been a bit standoffish. Rather than irritating, her odd behavior intrigued him.

  Not only were her brothers challenging him, by her hot and cold signals, Emma had challenged him in a way he found exhilarating. Even her invitation to swim in the nude in the creek had been thrown down like a gauntlet, probably to get under her brothers’ skin. By dang, Cooper was going to take her up on the dare.

  If nothing else, he’d push her to the edge and see what Emma Jacobs was made of. She and her brothers had tested him—time to see if Emma Jacobs measured up. Was she truly his perfect match as Leslie and her confounded computerized matchmaker claimed?

  After Cooper had calmed Diablo and gotten him to behave, the ride to the creek passed in silence. Still sticky from sweating and covered in dirt and hay dust, Cooper couldn’t wait to plunge into the pool. He followed behind Emma, admiring the way she held herself straight in the saddle and rode with fluid grace and dignity. Never once had she glanced back.

  Something was bothering her and Cooper had a feeling he was the cause. A smile tugged at his lips. He hadn’t felt this good in a long time and the sensation had to do with this woman and her well-meaning brothers. How nice to be a part of a family who cared enough about each other to take the time to check out a potential mate for one of their own.

  Cooper had grown up an only child of elderly parents. When they’d died in a car wreck, he’d been shuttled from one foster home to another, never staying long enough to become a part of the family and always wishing he was. Emma was truly fortunate to have so many brothers to look out for her.

  The woman led him over hills, through several ordinary farm gates, one marked No Trespassing, and down into a long, green valley. A stream burbled at the center of the valley, surrounded by tall willows and cypress trees. She passed through a stand of red oak trees and reined in at a point where the creek widened into a pool the size of a lunging corral. Big enough to get wet all over, yet small enough to be intimate and leave little to the imagination should they both get naked and swim together.

  Not only was Cooper hot and sweaty, but now his jeans were too tight and chafing where he sat in the saddle. Even if Emma wasn’t getting in, he sure as hell planned on taking advantage of the pool’s soothing waters. Maybe swimming would tamp down his surging desire for the woman who refused to look him straight in the eye.

  Emma slid from her mount, her gaze shooting back toward the trail she’d taken into the copse of trees.

  “Expecting someone?” Cooper dropped to the ground and tied his horse to a tree branch in the shade of a willow.

  “I thought my brothers…” Her cheeks flamed. “That is…they usually…” Her brows furrowed and she walked a few steps back the way they’d come, peering through the tree branches. “Of all the times to actually grant me a little privacy, they had to choose this one.”

  “Excuse me?” Cooper tossed his shirt on a tree branch. “Were they going t
o join us?”

  “They usually do.” Emma’s frown deepened. “But apparently not today.”

  “And that bothers you?” Cooper fought the grin threatening to break loose, schooling his face to seriousness. “I promise not to attack you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

  She cast him a brief glance, her lips twisting. “I can take care of myself.” Emma returned to her horse and reached out, her fingers working at the ties on the saddlebag.

  “I’d just as soon swim before I eat, if it’s all right by you.” Cooper toed off his boots, pulled off his socks and stood barefoot on the gravel. “Are you coming in?”

  “Look, Mr. Johnson.”

  “Cooper. I thought we were past the formalities.”

  Emma planted her hands on her hips and finally faced him. “You should know, I only agreed to go out on this date to get my brothers to back off in their efforts to find me a husband.”

  Cooper nodded. So that was her game. Now her actions all made sense. “And how’s that working for you?”

  Her lips twisted into a frown. “Not so good. I thought you’d be a geek, a desk jockey with a pasty face and the soft hands of an accountant. My brothers would have run you off the ranch in the first five minutes.”

  “Your plan.”

  “Yes. Then they’d finally quit shoving men in my face. I’m happy the way I am. I don’t need a man in my life, and I just wish they’d accept that and let me be.”

  “So, I was supposed to fail their man-tests and go home scared to ask you out on a second date?”

  “Yes.” She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry. I know Leslie’s trying to get her business going and the fact her computer hooked me up with you should have been a good thing for you and her business. Frankly, my intentions were not to find my future mate.”

  “You only wanted a decoy to distract your brothers.” Cooper crossed his arms over his chest then raised a hand to cup his chin. “Sorry to disappoint.”

  “No offense, but…” She reached out and touched his arm.

  What could only be described as an electric current shot through Cooper’s arm, ripping through his body like a lightning bolt, then angling downward to make his dusty jeans even tighter.