Page 13 of Claimed By the Cowboy
His gaze follows me like a physical touch as we head upstairs. When I glance back from the landing, he’s still watching, his blue eyes dark with want.
The guest bedrooms we’re given are beautiful—antique quilts and honey-colored furniture that matches the rest of the house. But as I settle by thewindow in my room to stare out at the moonlit mountains, all I can think about is Tom.
I find myself counting the hours until morning.Until I can be alone with a man who makes me feel alive in ways I never knew possible.
Even if he’s supposed to belong to someone else.
Chapter 5
Tom
I wake up thinking about the wrong woman.
Not Delaney—though she’s everything the contract promised. Strong, capable, built for ranch life. The smart choice for a man with twenty-nine days to save his family’s legacy.
No, I wake up hard and aching, thinking about honey-blonde hair and eyes like warm whiskey. About a musical laugh that hit me like lightning. About the way Kitty looked at me across the dinner table, as if she were already mine.
Mine.
The word slams through me, primal and absolute.
Every possessive instinct bred into Sutton men for five generations roars to life, demanding I claim what’s clearly meant to be mine.
Except she’s not.
She can’t be.
Dangerous territory, Tom.
I roll out of bed before dawn, pull on yesterday's jeans and a clean flannel, and head downstairs for coffee. The house is quiet except for ranch morning sounds—cattle in the distance, wind through pine trees, the faint creak of old floorboards like the house is stretching awake.
Dad is already moving around in the kitchen.“Morning,” he says without looking up from the coffee pot. “Sleep well?”
“Like a baby.” The lie comes easily. No point admitting I spent half the night staring at the ceiling thinking about a woman who’s off-limits.
Dad slides a mug across the counter. “Delaney seems nice. Organized. Practical.”
“Yeah. She’ll do well here.”Delaney will make an excellent ranch wife. She’s hardworking and unafraid of challenges.
“And the sister?”
I take a long sip of coffee, buying time while my pulse kicks up. “What about her?”
“Don't play dumb, son. You couldn’t take your eyes off her last night.”
My jaw tightens. “Don’t know what you mean.”
Dad looks at me with that knowing expression he’s perfected over the years. He sees straight through whatever bullshit I’m trying to sell.
“Tom.” His voice carries weight. “I’ve watched you and your brothers your whole lives. Watched Henry fight his feelings for Shay, and Angus try to convince himself that Luna was just business. And now I’m watching you pretend you don’t want something you can’t have.”
My hands tighten around the mug. “The ranch?—”
“Will survive whatever choice you make. Your mother’s will had conditions, but it didn’t say you had to marry the wrong woman.”
The words hit like a physical blow. “Delaney’s not the wrong woman. She's exactly what I agreed to.”
“Maybe. But is she what you want?”
