Hot Summer in Texas

by Delores Fossen

  Well, it probably wasn’t.

  Marco couldn’t still be in love with her. Not after what she’d done by leaving him. And she couldn’t love him again until she’d learned to forgive herself. Too bad that might never happen.

  With that dismal thought running through her head, she started to get out of her SUV, but some movement in the corral caught her eye. She spotted Marco with one of the Appaloosas that her grandfather loved. He certainly made a picture in his black Stetson, jeans and a work shirt that strained with the flexing of his muscles. Pure cowboy.

  All man.

  That stirred memories as well of the times she’d had her hands and her mouth on that manliness.

  She was just seventeen when she lost her virginity to him. Even though Marco hadn’t given her a lot of details about it, his sexual initiation had happened a year or two before. Lana wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but she’d waited for him to make his way through the bevvy of girls who’d eyed him as if he were a tempting, tasty dessert. She’d waited because she’d thought he was “the one.”

  Now she knew that sex with “the one” was a heck of a lot easier than dealing with the aftermath of their relationship. She’d been a miserable failure at that, and she had ended up hurting Marco in the process. That hurt was still there. Probably always would be which was why he would nix any marriage notions as well.

  Her phone buzzed, and she absently answered it without taking her attention off Marco. If she had looked at her phone screen, she probably wouldn’t have answered because the caller wasn’t someone she wanted to talk to right now.

  Nolan.

  “Lana,” he said. “Just calling to make sure you’re okay.”

  She didn’t want to talk to her ex again, especially not while she ogled her first ex in the corral. Not that the chat they’d had at Nolan’s house when she’d stopped by to pick up Matthew’s science had been unpleasant. He hadn’t gotten angry. Instead, Nolan had taken one look at her face and immediately asked her what was wrong.

  The man could be impatient and self-absorbed when he was in work mode, but she’d never once doubted that he cared about her. Maybe still did. But since Lana had been the one to end their relationship, too, that wasn’t a discussion she wanted to have with him. Nor was this one about her grandfather.

  “I just got to Lone Star Ridge,” she answered, making sure she sounded as if she was pressed for time. “I’m going in to talk to Benji now.”

  “Well, give him my best, and if there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

  She was feeling lousy enough that she nearly pointed out that he could help by not being so snippy with his son when he forgot things like a science project. But that was a battle she could no longer fight. She couldn’t entangle herself in Nolan’s life because she loved the boy who’d nearly become her stepson.

  “Thanks,” she murmured and got distracted when Marco peeled off his shirt to hose himself down.

  Mercy.

  The man could still make her mouth water.

  “You said your granddad’s having trouble and wants you there at his ranch,” Nolan added a moment later.

  “Yes,” she answered though it was hard to focus on the conversation when she couldn’t take her eyes off Marco. She had indeed told Nolan that when she’d lowered her defenses after he’d expressed some concern for her. “Granddad needs to retire, but he has to turn over the ranch to a male heir. Since I’m obviously not a male, he’d planned on giving it to my spouse.”

  Nolan laughed as if that were a joke, but then he cleared his throat. “You’re serious?”

  She refrained from using the clichéd answer of “as a heart attack.” Lana didn’t want to think of anything to do with the heart right now.

  “I’m serious,” she settled for saying. “Grandad wants me to get married so he can leave the ranch to me and my spouse.” She stuttered a little when a shirtless Marco started toward her grandfather’s house. “I have to go, Nolan. Thanks for checking on me.”

  She ended the call while he was mid-goodbye and stepped out of her SUV. Marco immediately spotted her, and he muttered something under his breath. Probably profanity and aimed at her because seeing her was a reminder that he was regretting that amazing kiss he’d laid on her back at the police station. He must have also regretted being bare chested because he ended her peep show by putting his shirt back on. What he didn’t do was button it which meant she got a limited peep show.

  Which was still amazing.

  There were tiny beads of water clinging to the fine mat of chest hair. Chest hair that she used to run her fingers through—

  And she couldn’t go there.

  “You’re ogling my chest,” he commented.

  His tone was as dry as dust, but there was a glimmer in his eyes. Eyes that lowered to her breasts. They were playing tit for tat again, and Lana felt her nipples tingle in response. Heck, a lot of her body was tingling.

  She shook her head to clear it. “Uh, my grandfather’s inside?”

  That glimmer stayed in place a few seconds longer before he nodded and started for the house. Lana fell in step alongside him. “He took a nap, and I had the diner deliver something for dinner so he wouldn’t have to cook.” He glanced at her. “Did you finish your business and deal with the science project?”

  She didn’t miss the shift in tone when he mentioned the science project. Probably because he knew it was for her ex’s son. Maybe the tone was Marco’s way of asking her what was going on there. But Lana didn’t want to talk about that any more than she wanted to discuss the fact that she still had the hots for him.

  “I did deal with my business,” she answered, “and I cleared my schedule for the next couple of days.” Which hadn’t been as hard as she’d thought it would be. Lana had rescheduled some of her appointments to conference calls and had shifted a few projects that would allow her to work remotely from the ranch.

  “Good. Because I think Benji’s going to need you here,” Marco muttered.

  Lana stopped on the porch and looked at him. “Did he say anything else about his heart—”

  “No. And I didn’t push. I figured he’d want to talk about this tonight.” He paused. “But if you think I shouldn’t be here when you two discuss it, just let me know.”

  Lana wasn’t sure if his hesitancy was simply a courtesy to not impose during a “family” chat or if he wanted to cut and run because of that kiss. And because of the ogling. But if that was it, he was just going to have to deal with a little discomfort because anything they might work out would almost certainly involve Marco.

  Not marriage.

  But maybe keeping an eye on the daily operations of the ranch until Lana could learn how to do that herself.

  “You should be here,” she told him, and trying to steel herself up, she opened the door and went in.

  Home. That was her first thought as she stepped inside the foyer with its rich wood floors and paintings of the prize-winning horses her grandfather had bred and raised over the years. She loved the place, and even though her life was in San Antonio, this would always be home.

  Her second thought was the guilt over not having been here in so long.

  They made their way through the foyer and into the sprawling living area that hadn’t been redecorated in more than a decade. Then again, the caramel-colored leather sofa where her grandfather was seated never seemed to go out of style.

  However, she did see some changes. There was a stack of mail and magazines on one of the end tables and the furniture had a fine coating of dust. Normally, her grandfather stayed on top of keeping the place clean so it was an “in the face” reminder that he was indeed not feeling well. Maybe not feeling well for months—something she would have known had she visited him.

  Her grandfather smiled at them, causing some of her worry to ease. He didn’t look sick, and that was good
, but that didn’t mean something bad wasn’t going on inside him.

  She went over and hugged him before sitting down. “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “I’m not ready to keel over or anything so you can take that gloom and doom look off your face.” He patted her hand, aimed another smile at Marco. “Thanks for seeing to the mare.”

  Marco nodded. “Anytime.” He didn’t sit, and when her grandfather motioned for him to do that, Marco fanned his hand over his shirt. “I hosed off, but I’m still plenty sweaty.”

  Yes, he was, and despite the situation, Lana remembered just how hot of a look that could be on him.

  “Sit down anyway,” Benji insisted. “I’ll grab us some beers, and we can talk.”

  Lana caught onto her grandfather’s hand when he started to stand. “Did the doctor say it was okay for you to drink alcohol?”

  His mouth flattened which told her the answer to that was no.

  “I’ll get us some ice water in a minute,” she offered. “First though, I want to know what the doctor told you about your heart.”

  “I already gave you the condensed version. Not much else to say.” He paused as if gathering his breath. “I’ll be scheduled for bypass. It’s not as much of a big deal as it used to be,” he quickly added. “There’s not much risk. But I will have to take it easy and not do as much as I’m used to doing.”

  Marco finally did sit, taking the chair across from them. “I’ve already made some calls, and I can have some part-time help here by tomorrow morning. I can fill in, too.”

  “And so can I,” Lana volunteered, causing both men to look at her as if she’d just sprouted another nose. “I can,” she insisted.

  “Well, thank you,” Benji said without a whole lot of conviction.

  “I can,” she repeated in a grumble. “Ranching might not be a strong skill set for me, but I can learn, and I can do some parts of my job from here.”

  She got the sprouted nose look from them again. Maybe because in the past she hadn’t made an effort to help out. But in her own defense that was because her help hadn’t been needed. It was now though. Not just helping with the ranch either but with the legalities of ownership, as well.

  “I’m looking into maybe the ranch being placed in a trust,” she explained. “That way, it can be held for future male heirs.”

  “I’d rather leave it to you,” Benji quickly stated.

  She’d expected this argument. “Well, unless I’m going to start spontaneously growing male parts, that’s not going to happen. Or unless you’re planning on breaking the promise you made to your father. Which I know you aren’t.”

  Lana wouldn’t ask him to do it, either. Her grandfather was an honest man. Well, except for luring her back to town under the pretense that he’d been arrested. But she figured that’d been fueled by desperation. Desperation that she was also feeling right now.

  “I can’t break my promise,” Benji muttered with plenty of regret in his voice. “I gave my word.”

  She sighed and kissed his cheek. “Then, our best bet is the trust.”

  However, that was far from a sure thing. Once Benji actually saw the document, he might see it as a way of skirting around that promise. After all, he would still technically be leaving it to her and any future heirs who might or might not be male. But he had to leave the place to someone, and if he didn’t stipulate that in a will, the property would automatically go to her after his passing since she was his only next of kin.

  In other words, it would break the promise he’d made.

  Lana didn’t want to worry about that right now, not when it was his health that was her main concern.

  “When is your next doctor’s appointment?” she asked. “Because I’d like to go with you and talk to the doctor. I want to know more about this bypass and find out what kind of recovery you’ll have.”

  “The appointment’s tomorrow to schedule the surgery. And you can come.” There was no argument in his voice, but there was some weariness. He rubbed his hand over his face. “I think I’d like a little lie down before dinner.” He shifted his attention to Marco. “Would you mind staying around for a while? I’d like to go over some chores you can give that part-time help you hired.”

  “Of course,” Marco readily agreed. He motioned to his shirt again. “But I’ll need to grab a shower and wash off the rest of this sweat. I’ve got a change of clothes in my truck.”

  “You know where the guest room is,” Marco said, heading to his own room at the back of the house. “I won’t let this lie down last too long.”

  Marco and she stood there and watched him walk away. “Crap,” Marco muttered. “I was hoping he was bluffing, that this was all just some out-there matchmaking attempt.”

  “Yes,” Lana agreed. She’d hoped the same thing, but it was obvious this health threat was the real deal.

  They stood there, their attention on the now empty hall, and the worry so thick that Lana could practically feel it coating her skin.

  “Granddad’s not going to like the trust when he reads it,” she said. “So, please tell me you have some clever idea as to how to get around this. It would lessen his stress if we had a solution.”

  Judging from the sound of frustration Marco made, he didn’t have anything clever to fix this. “I could get you pregnant with the hopes that it’d be a boy,” he threw out there. “Sorry,” he immediately added. “A really bad joke.”

  It was. But for just a handful of seconds, her stupid body thought that was a stellar notion. Because it would land them in bed and maybe cool some of this scalding need she had for him.

  “I’m really sorry,” he said, interrupting her shirtless fantasies of him. “I shouldn’t have said anything about a baby.”

  Because that was a taboo subject. One that he probably figured had reminded her of the miscarriage. Lana felt guilty that it hadn’t, that her first thought had gone to sex instead of this loss they had between them.

  She wanted to give him a break. Guilt sucked, and they had enough suckage going on right now without adding the old baggage. “Actually, let’s put the knocking up as plan C.”

  He slowly turned to her, and while he wasn’t smiling, there was a glimmer in his eye. Or maybe it was just reflecting the glimmer that was in hers.

  “I’m guessing the trust idea is plan A,” he said. “So, what’s plan B?”

  “I haven’t thought of one yet.” Though her grandfather had certainly believed he had the fix. “It won’t be marriage. I’m not going to put my family’s troubles on you like that.”

  Marco continued to stare at her, and she thought that maybe he was about to tell her to dump those troubles right on him. There was no way he could actually want marriage.

  Was there?

  No. Because they weren’t in love. There was only the heat, and it was there in spades. Worse, it seemed to be flaming up in leaps and bounds. Marco was well aware of it, too, because his gaze dropped to her mouth, and he gave her a sort of visual kiss. Lana cursed because it seemed to be just as potent as the real thing.

  “I’m still sweaty,” he pointed out.

  She made a show of sniffing at him and didn’t get a whiff of any sweat. However, his shirt was still open, and his chest was still damp from the hosing down he’d given himself. And then there was his scent. No sweat, but it was musky and male. He smelled like bottled sex.

  “Crap,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Well, I was working with the horses,” he joked. “So, there’s possibly some on my boots.”

  Lana couldn’t help it. She smiled.

  And then she kissed him.

  Her brain was yelling that this was wrong. So wrong. But the rest of her just started clamoring for more and shut out any voice of reason. That was a good thing. She didn’t want reason. She wanted Marco’s mouth for dinner.

 
Marco accommodated her. He kissed her right back, along with sliding his arm around her and pulling her to him. She suddenly felt starved for him, as if he were the cure for a long drought. And she knew he was more than capable of curing because he was as good in bed as he looked like he would be.

  He made a sound of pleasure, one that was mixed with frustration. She totally got that. Kissing, and anything else they did, would feel amazing, but it wouldn’t really solve anything. Plus, it would bring this heat right to the surface where it could muddle the decision that had to be made about the ranch.

  That reminder didn’t stop her.

  In fact, she was the one who deepened the kiss, and it was her hand that started moving this beyond first base. She slid her hand between them. To his chest. Over all those tight muscles and mat of hair.

  That kicked up the heat a significant notch, and this time there was no frustration in the sound he made. It was need, all need, and it quickly got out of hand. Still kissing her, Marco backed her against the wall, pinning her there while he took that magic mouth to her neck. That was the problem with them having been lovers, he knew all her hot spots and knew how to take her from foreplay to the bed.

  Which couldn’t happen.

  Lana mentally repeated that many times before she was finally able to make her exploring hands quit playing with his chest hair. It took several more repeats before she could ease back from him.

  When their gazes met, their breaths were gusting, and Lana could feel their hearts thudding against their chests. She could also hear buzzing, and it took her a moment to realize that the sound wasn’t only in her head.

  “My phone,” she managed to say, and Lana pulled it from the side pocket of her dress. She frowned when she saw Matthew’s name on the screen. “I should take this.”

  “You think he forgot another science project?” Marco grumbled, obviously seeing the screen. He was clearly not happy about ending their make out session. Or maybe he was unhappy that it’d happened in the first place. It wasn’t fun to be reminded they were pretty much mindless when it came to each other.