Winter's Rose Read online

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Winter’s Rose

  ISBN # 1-4199-0665-8

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Winter’s Rose Copyright© 2006 Ruby Storm

  Edited by Pamela Campbell.

  Cover art by Syneca.

  Electronic book Publication: December 2006

  This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Content Advisory:

  S – ENSUOUS

  E – ROTIC

  X - TREME

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing offers three levels of Romantica™ reading entertainment: S (S-ensuous), E (E-rotic), and X (X-treme).

  The following material contains graphic sexual content meant for mature readers. This story has been rated E–rotic.

  S-ensuous love scenes are explicit and leave nothing to the imagination.

  E-rotic love scenes are explicit, leave nothing to the imagination, and are high in volume per the overall word count. E-rated titles might contain material that some readers find objectionable—in other words, almost anything goes, sexually. E-rated titles are the most graphic titles we carry in terms of both sexual language and descriptiveness in these works of literature.

  X-treme titles differ from E-rated titles only in plot premise and storyline execution. Stories designated with the letter X tend to contain difficult or controversial subject matter not for the faint of heart.

  Winter’s Rose

  Ruby Storm

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Ford: Ford Motor Company

  Stetson: John B. Stetson Company

  Prologue

  Rose Marie hauled back on leather reins, forcing her mount to a skidding halt as she squinted her eyes beneath the felt brim of her hat. The blood drained from her normally pink cheeks as she stared out from the edge of the tree line to the western horizon. Her heart pounded and nausea roiled her belly as she struggled against the power of the prancing animal beneath her.

  Never taking her gaze from the man who sat atop the dashing horse as if they were one, she slid from the saddle unsure if her trembling knees would hold her upright.

  Was it him?

  Don’t be ridiculous. A lot of men sit a horse like Kody…

  She scuttled around a tree to better study the straight line of the man’s back and the breadth of his shoulders. Damn! He was too far away to see his face. Her stomach rolled about as she watched the unknown horse crest a small butte and disappear. Sliding the hat off her head, she slumped against the tree and closed her eyes.

  Kody. She had to be imaging things.

  Her soft brow furrowed as she pictured him in her mind. It had been so long but his memory never left her restless nights. That same memory now prodded at her heart, but try as she might, she couldn’t force it away, nor the intense feeling of longing that she’d fought every night since he’d walked from her life.

  She had loved him so much.

  Rose nearly cried aloud. Had? She still did—but there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. Kody had made his choice and that was the way of things.

  Shaken as if she’d seen a ghost, she remounted and reined her horse in the opposite direction. Before she tucked her hat over her thick blonde hair and kicked her mount into a gallop, she glanced longingly across the barren prairie. As much as she still wanted him, Kody’s return to her life would be one hell of a complication, and was the one thing she didn’t need.

  She smacked the horse’s rump with leather reins and headed home.

  Chapter One

  Kody Winter’s sparkling green eyes narrowed beneath the black brim of his Stetson as he studied the sign in a tinted storefront window. The hot Texas sun, abnormally warm for the Christmas season, heated the exposed skin of his arms. Shifting the weight of his trim jeans-clad hips to his opposite leg, the corded muscles in his arms rippled as he adjusted his hat and shook his head in amazement. It was hard to believe that he was here on a sidewalk in Bandera instead of in the middle of a covert skirmish in some remote location across the world.

  Kody took a deep breath and waited for some intricate prodding of his mind to tell him he had made a huge mistake by not pursuing a military career. His superiors had done their best to persuade him to reenlist, but Texas was where he wanted to be. He was proud to have served his country over the last six years but was more than ready to rest his head in the same place every night. He took another breath.

  Nope. No doubts. He’d done the right thing.

  His gaze shifted again to the painted red door of the building. His lieutenant had told Kody more than once that every action was simply a matter of timing. Yesterday had been the perfect example. Kody really hadn’t expected to find Rose Marie so easily. He’d seen her cross this same street and enter the building whose window he looked through now. The sight of her petite but curvaceous body and her thick blonde hair lifting in the breeze had shocked him so much that he’d almost rear-ended the vehicle in front of him. By the time he had parked his truck and hurried to peer through this same window, he’d seen her tuck a folder beneath her arm and lead a customer down the dark halls of Bandera’s Botanical Spa. But where in hell had she been these last years? Kody had planned to start searching for her again, never contemplating the fact that she’d moved back to town after all this time.

  She’d done it. She gone to school like she had said she would, had apparently gotten her degree in massage therapy and now worked in the field. One thing about Rose. When she made up her mind, she stuck to it.

  Hence the ambush today. Lifting his Stetson, he traced his fingers through the slight waves already replacing the short cut of so many years and adjusted the hat once more. She would fight him, of that he was certain. Six years earlier she’d told him to go to hell when she discovered he had enlisted. In his own mind, the only way he could explain her sudden dismissal of him was that she’d taken his departure as a rejection of sorts.

  But Rose had never left his thoughts. And when he’d returned home after his preliminary basic training for a quick visit, he’d gone looking for her. According to her father, Kody had discovered that she’d left Bandera with her sister. It was as if Rose had disappeared off the face of the earth, because with the few return visits over the next six years, the only thing he had found out was that the old man had drunk himself to death and Rose and her sister, Lily, had never come back.

  Yup. Timing was everything along with a handful of sheer luck.

  Seeing her yesterday had catapulted him into the past. All the intense roiling emotions that thinking of her always evoked had only intensified. He wanted another chance with her and the only thing that would cause him to step back would be if Rose had married. Last night he’d checked the phonebook, but she wasn’t listed. That fact had set him on edge. So, to discover if she was still single he had called for an appointment and requested Miss Rose Leighton. He hadn’t been corrected. Kody was sticking with the assumption that he still had half a chance.

  He could simply have waited there on the street for her to arrive at work, but that would have taken the fun out of it. Kody’s brain just wasn’t wired that way. Maybe it was a throwback to his wild youth or his years in covert service, but he was going with the element of surprise. He was givi
ng himself the advantage before she had the chance to tell him to go to hell again.

  He reached for the door and entered the strangely scented front office. The lights were low and a fluted Indian melody filtered softly into the room from hidden speakers—strange music for an area where fiddles and lonesome cowboy tunes could be heard on every dial of the radio. His green gaze cast about. The ambiance would set anyone at ease. However, he wasn’t just anyone. He was a man on a mission.

  A smiling young woman who sat behind the desk greeted him.

  “Hi there. I’m Laura. Can I help you?”

  “Yes, I have an appointment for a massage.”

  “Your name?”

  Kody watched her gaze trickle over him as if he were a piece of candy about to be eaten. He stepped up to the counter. “John Anderson.”

  The young woman opened a folder and picked up a pencil. “I see you’ve requested Miss Leighton as your masseuse today. She’s just about finished with another client.”

  Miss… Once again, the confirmation that Rose was still single.

  Glancing up, a smile lit the receptionist’s face as her eyes flowed over the top half of his body.

  Kody wondered if she even realized she ran the eraser end of her pencil across her full bottom lip as she stared, pink-cheeked.

  “Are you here for a massage because you’re having a problem area or are you just looking for the relaxation sequence?”

  Problem area? Yeah, he had a problem area. It was Rose Leighton and the stiff backbone he expected to run up against. He leaned one elbow on the counter and pushed his hat farther back on his forehead. Flashing a smile, he winked. “I’ve been back up on a horse—something that I haven’t done for a while. Guess I need a little relief for my legs and backside.”

  The receptionist smiled a bit wider beneath the bounce of her feathered eyebrows and blushing cheeks as she scribbled his answer. After asking him a few more questions in regard to his health and marking little square boxes on her form, she finally stood with the sheet of paper in her hand. “Mr. Anderson, why don’t you follow me and we’ll get you set up.”

  He trailed after her down a dimly lit hallway ignoring the exaggerated swing of Laura’s hips. Instead, his gaze flicked over a couple of closed doors knowing Rose was behind one of them. Just a few seconds more and he’d be safely nestled away.

  The woman entered a room at the end of the hall and swept an arm to indicate the empty and dimly lit cubicle. “Feel free to leave your underwear on and slip under the blanket facedown. Miss Leighton will give you a few minutes to get ready.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Enjoy your rubdown.”

  “Oh, I will,” he replied, slightly surprised by how the woman’s voice had become huskier with her last remark.

  He tossed his hat onto a chair and tugged his T-shirt out of his pants and over his six-pack abs. It took a moment longer to slide his tight boots off, but as soon as that was done, he shucked off his jeans and slung them over the back of a chair. But just before he slid between the warmed sheets, he stepped back and slid off his shorts.

  A grin curved his mouth upward as he settled on the table. Rose was in for the surprise of her life. He yanked the sheet up over his ass and lay facedown. His smile immediately widened. As he stared down through the opening of the headrest, he spied a cartoon taped to the floor for a patron’s enjoyment. It was a picture of a man lying facedown on a massage table as the masseuse emptied his wallet from a pair of hanging pants. Surprises. Kody loved them. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes to wait.

  His mind drifted back to years earlier and a vision of Rose mucking out the stalls at his family’s ranch, her blonde hair pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail and an angry scowl always in place because she figured the world was out to get her. But that look could change. Kody remembered that all too well. All it took was one kiss and her blue eyes would smolder to a darker color. It was at that moment Rose would forget her lot in life as she kissed her employer’s son with abandon and with the heart of a wanton. At first, Kody was only trolling for another sexual conquest and Rose possessed the perfect innocence to easily be wooed by his charms, or so he’d thought. What he’d discovered was a woman who’d met every one of his sexual challenges, one who spurred his senses and wormed her way into his heart. Over the course of that summer six years ago, he’d fallen in love. A youthful uncommitted love, but love nonetheless.

  As the years passed, he’d never been able to rid his mind of her throw-her-head back laugh, how wonderfully erotic Rose’s naked skin felt against his, or how her eyes turned tempestuous cobalt as he coaxed her body through an orgasm. He couldn’t wait for her to show.

  Another full three minutes passed before he heard a light tapping on the door.

  “Mr. Anderson? Are you ready?”

  His heart picked up a beat. It had been so long since he’d heard her voice. A shiver raced up his spine at the remembered sound. “Come in,” he stated quietly.

  The door opened, then shut softly. A flip of a switch and fluted music filtered into the room.

  He was on his belly, his face hidden from Rose’s beautiful blue eyes. Although he couldn’t see her, he knew she was close. His skin prickled, his heart rapped against his ribs and his cock stirred. Oh, yeah, after all this time, Rose was close by.

  “Mr. Anderson? Before we begin, are there any problem areas you would like me to center on? I see you’ve been riding after a period of inactivity?”

  The last was more a question than a statement.

  He swallowed away a smartass reply and answered with a low, slightly timbered tone. “That’s correct.”

  “Well, then, I guess I know what’s hurting on you.”

  The laughing lilt of her voice flowed around him. As much as he wished it could go on forever, he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Damn, she was really going to be pissed that he was pulling one over on her. He was eager as hell to come head-to-head with her indignation.

  “Just relax.”

  Her soothing voice coaxed a quick flow of heat through his groin. It was going to be damn near impossible to remain unaffected by it. Already, he could feel himself hardening. This could be nothing but trouble…

  * * * * *

  Rose poured a bit of scented oil onto her palm. Rubbing her hands together to warm it, her gaze flowed across the broad expanse of the man’s shoulders. Whoever John Anderson was, he was a tall man and looked to be in perfect physical shape. A mellow warmth curled inside her belly, then sprang to life.

  She gave herself a mental slap. There were professional behaviors and standards, ethical and legal practices applied to massage therapy and never once had she experienced the hot, sexual yearning that quickly spun through her—not with any client.

  Gritting her teeth, she walked to the head of the table, hesitated and steeled herself to slowly rub her palms down each side of his spine. His smooth skin rippled like water beneath her touch. Her eyes closed for a moment to simple enjoy the hard muscles beneath her fingers. Instantly she was ashamed at the immediate urge to bend forward and feel the heat of his skin against her cheek. Mr. Anderson was a client, yet her stomach flopped about and her heart continued to race with sexual undertones. Her womb clenched and she was appalled at her reaction.

  Stop it! Too long without a man, Rose. What she felt was just a normal response to one hell of a fine specimen of a man—wasn’t it? Whatever it was, she damn well better dismiss it. But a second later, her eyes drifted shut as she traced patterns across his back once more, enjoying the sensual, primal feeling of innate power within his muscles.

  Silently, she moved to the side of the table, started again at his broad shoulders and kneaded down to his waist, wondering the entire time what her physical reaction would be when she worked the muscles of his thighs. Her gaze drifted back up to the dark waves lying against the back of his neck. Instantly a vision flashed through her brain.

  This guy’s hair was close to the same color as Kody
Winter’s, shorter than he’d always worn it, but it had the same deep chestnut color. That quick thought made her knees weak and shaky. Lately, she’d been thinking too much about Kody. Years had passed since they’d split, yet his memory still had the power to crack her normally firm resolve that she would never let a man affect her the way he had done. The leftover hurt just wasn’t worth it.

  Silently, she continued to massage the broad expanse of skin beneath her fingers, and decided once again that life just wasn’t fair most times.

  Her head tipped to the side. How weird. Touching the guy on the table seemed too familiar, too…wonderful. She was instantly grateful that he had decided to remain quiet. Most times her patrons rattled on through the first part of the massage until she’d relaxed them to silence, but this guy had absolutely nothing to say.

  Once she was done with his back, she carefully moved the sheet and uncovered one well-developed leg, cautious to tuck the material between his slightly spread thighs and not expose his backside. A small intake of breath preceded the slow breath she let out. His leg was hard as stone. Whoa, this guy really was a great representation of the male species.

  What in hell was going on with her? It was a struggle to remember that she worked muscles called the iliotibial tract, the long muscle running from hip to knee, and also the semitendinosus and gastrocnemius muscles… She forced the technical terms into her mind to halt the tingling that raced from her fingertips and up her arm. Eventually, she would have to work his gluteus maximus. She inhaled a little deeper this time and wondered if she’d be spending the night behind bars for inappropriate behavior with a client.

  Stop it!

  She forced herself to massage the muscles above the inside of his knee for another five minutes of silent, self-imposed torture until the moment of reckoning was upon her. Biting her bottom lip, she moved her fingers up the side of his leg and gently and professionally exposed a bit of the man’s right gluteus. Jesus, he was completely nude. What the hell was the matter with Laura? Hadn’t she told him to leave on his underwear? And just as she had expected, his buttock was hard and molded to a perfect curve. Normally she would tuck the sheet close to the client’s midline, but because of the continued nagging heat and the fact that he was totally naked, there was no way she was doing that. Hopefully her client would think he’d gotten his money’s worth with her simply working the outside of his hip.