Less-than-Innocent Invitation

by Shirley Rogers

  Melissa stiffened her carriage. “A life as a reporter? Yes.” Her answer held little truth. She’d wanted him. Forever. Until she’d learned the selfish truth of why he’d asked her to marry him.

  Logan raised a skeptical eyebrow. She frowned, a bit put off by his cynicism. “Don’t look so shocked. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve worked hard, taking assignments other reporters have turned down.”

  Including coming back to this town.

  After years of proving herself by covering every type of story imaginable, she’d begun to believe if she was ever going to get a desk assignment, she might have to move to another station in a larger market. Although she liked and respected the station’s news director, Jason Bellamy, he had yet to give her a chance.

  Until last week. She had Jason’s word that if she covered this one last story, she’d be promoted to a weekend news position becoming available in a month. Her dreams lay before her. She only had to complete this last assignment.

  “Actually, I’m impressed,” Logan admitted. And he was. His love hadn’t been enough to make Melissa happy, but apparently she’d found what she’d been searching for in her work. Had her satisfaction also come in the form of another man? He glanced at her left hand and noticed it was free of any wedding rings.

  “Thank you.” From the hard edge in his voice, Melissa doubted his sincerity. Their parting had been traumatic for her. How had he handled it? She wanted to know, but she wasn’t going to ask.

  Silence fell between them. With her emotions in turmoil, she had to get out of there. She sent Rick a desperate look, but he was engaged in a conversation with Daniel, her story producer, who had come to Royal as part of their crew.

  The upbeat country tune changed to a slow, heady song about lost love. The melancholy words of the tune mimicked her past relationship with Logan. One of her favorites, she’d often played it when she’d wondered if she’d done the right thing breaking up with him.

  “Dance?”

  Logan’s request jerked her from her thoughts. “What?”

  “Would you like to dance?” He wasn’t about to let her get away. Taking a step toward her, he closed the distance between them, her panicked look giving him a sense of satisfaction. Apparently she wasn’t as immune to him as she wanted him to believe.

  “With you?” Surprised he’d asked, she struggled to maintain her composure, knowing she stood little chance of holding herself together if he touched her.

  He gave her a wry grin, the idea of holding her in his arms more appealing than he wanted to admit. “Well, sweetheart, since I’m the one who’s asking…”

  “I, um, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” Melissa shivered at the thought of being held again by Logan. Until now, she’d compartmentalized her feelings for him. Dancing with him would be tantamount to opening the lid on her personal Pandora’s box.

  Trying to stall, she glanced around, only to notice that several of her crew were watching them with more than a passing interest. So were some of Royal’s finest citizens, people she’d known when she’d lived there. She quietly groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was to cause a scene right there in the middle of the ballroom.

  “It’s just a dance, Melissa,” Logan coolly stated. At the indecision in her eyes a sudden rush of desperation shot through him. He wanted her to say yes—but for all the wrong reasons.

  Yeah, sure, he wanted answers from her, but he found himself wanting to hold her once again. The knot in his stomach twisted a little tighter. At sixteen she’d been cute, at twenty, pretty. Now, at thirty-one, she was flat-out beautiful. Her long chestnut hair fell in curls around her face, setting off her fascinating green eyes. His gaze drifted lower, over her bare shoulders and slim, athletic figure. Her dress hid very little of her perfect skin. No wonder the television industry had her in front of the camera.

  Shaking his head, Logan forced himself to stop thinking about how beautiful she was and centered his attention on what he really wanted from her. Answers about why she’d left. If she’d lied about loving him. And now, after seeing her again, he needed to prove to himself that these new feelings of awareness were based on nostalgia and nothing more, that the desire he’d felt for her all those years ago was long gone.

  “Are you here with someone?” Melissa asked. She looked at his hand, searching for a wedding ring but finding none. She told herself it didn’t mean anything. Because work on a ranch could sometimes be dangerous, even if he was married, he probably didn’t wear a ring.

  He grinned at her. “No.”

  “All right,” Melissa answered, more than a little surprised at his response. And curious. Did that mean there was no one special in his life? Or that he was alone just for this evening?

  She held out her hand and Logan closed his around it. They walked to the dance floor, and a shiver of anticipation whispered through her as he pulled her into his arms. Her lungs constricted with a needy ache. She was a fool to do this, to be this close to him, to let him anywhere near her heart. Even as she acknowledged she was playing with fire, her hand traitorously trailed across his shoulder to rest close to his neck.

  Closing her eyes she breathed in his scent, and the enticing, woodsy smell took her back to another time, another place, when he’d held her in his arms in more intimate ways as his big hands caressed her skin until she’d trembled with anticipation.

  Oh, this is not a good idea, her mind chanted over and over again. She leaned away, placing some much-needed distance between them. Opening her eyes, she searched his face to see if she’d had any effect on him. His emotionless mask, however, gave her no clue to his thoughts. She quickly looked away. “It’s a nice party,” she commented, struggling to ground herself.

  Logan nodded. “The town’s planned a lot of events to commemorate its anniversary.”

  She gave him a practiced, on-camera smile. “And the Texas Cattleman’s Club is doing its part.”

  “We aim to please.”

  Which meant he was now a member of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. She found that interesting, but under the circumstances, she wasn’t about to stroke his ego by pursuing that topic. “A lot of work has gone into putting this ball together.”

  “It isn’t every day the town has something this exciting to celebrate.” Logan felt the softness of Melissa’s hand in his and was suddenly very glad that he hadn’t left the ball. Not that he intended to have more than a dance with her.

  His mind drifted to the last time he’d made love to her, how she’d… No he wasn’t going to punish himself with the memories. What they had shared together was a long time ago.

  Done.

  Over.

  He’d asked her to dance to confront her, not to reminisce about how it felt to hold her, to touch her skin, to run his hands over her body.

  His goal was to get her to tell him why she’d broken up with him.

  Nothing more.

  Maybe once he knew the truth he could truly forget her.

  God knows he’d tried.

  “When my story producer heard about the legend surrounding Jessamine Golden, he insisted on coming with me and my videographer to learn about it firsthand.”

  “Yeah, history has it she was quite an outlaw,” he answered. “A lot of people believe the gold she stole is still hidden around here somewhere.” His struggle to keep Melissa at a distance was proving more difficult than he’d imagined. Her perfume filled his senses. Her scent hadn’t changed. He’d never quite forgotten her smell—like sunshine and lavender.

  Excitement lit her eyes. “If it’s true and the gold was found, it would be quite a story.” Tempted to stay in Royal and dig up some additional material on Jessamine Golden and the treasure she’d supposedly stolen and hidden, Melissa hesitated. If she did, she’d chance running into Logan again—a risk she wasn’t ready to take. This one encounter with him was definitely enough.

  Truthfully, her heart had never quite healed. She’d thought she’d successfully dealt with
her feelings for Logan, but now in his arms, she realized she hadn’t. Though not in love with him anymore, her emotions for him still went deep. It was best to finish this dance and say goodbye.

  “So, is this what you’ve doing all these years?” Logan asked, changing the subject to one that would help him keep his focus. “Chasing leads and reporting the news?”

  “Pretty much.” She lifted a shoulder in a soft shrug as they slowly moved to the music, conscious of how Logan used that moment to pull her closer. Rather than make an issue of feeling his hard, lean body pressed to hers, she pretended that she didn’t notice. Or notice how easy it would be to lean the few inches separating them and kiss him. She focused on his chin instead of looking into his eyes. “Of course, I haven’t always been given assignments like attending glamorous events. I’ve covered a lot of stories over the years, paid my dues, as they say.”

  “Was it worth it?” Logan asked, his voice low, yet determined. He’d planned on waiting until the right moment to ask her, but the words spilled out of his mouth. He told himself it had nothing to do with the way she felt.

  Melissa’s eyes grew wary. “I enjoy what I do.”

  “That’s not what I asked.” A hard edge crept into his voice, an underlying current of tension he hadn’t been able to conceal.

  “I thought you wanted to dance for old time’s sake.” Melissa stopped moving and tried to disengage from him. She came up short when he wouldn’t let her go.

  “I did,” he told her, aware he wasn’t being totally truthful. Grimacing, he admitted, “But I also want to know what made you break our engagement. You owe me that.”

  “No, Logan, I don’t.” When she pulled away this time, he let her go. It startled her as much as when he hadn’t.

  “The hell you don’t.”

  “This is ridiculous! Why would you want to dredge up old memories anyway, Logan? What happened between us was a lifetime ago. It’s water under the bridge. Over.” Her lungs lacked air. Calming herself, she managed to take in a short breath.

  His jaw hardened. “I guess maybe to you it is.”

  Melissa eyes widened. Did his comment mean that to him it wasn’t? His rigid stance revealed nothing more than that she’d provoked his anger. Well, she was pretty angry now herself. How dare he imply that their breakup was her fault? “I’m not responsible for what happened between us, Logan Voss. You are and you know it.”

  Logan stared at her in disbelief. “Me?”

  “Yes, you!”

  “You’re the one who left, Melissa.” His tone was sharp as he tried to speak over the music. He glanced around the room, irritated as people started to turn toward them. Damn, this was getting out of hand, and he wasn’t about to give anyone a show. Frustrated, he grabbed her wrist.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m not too crazy about providing tonight’s entertainment. Let’s take this outside.”

  Two

  “Let me go!” Melissa’s voice rose a notch. At that moment, the music ended and she realized he had a point. Many of the guests had stopped dancing and were watching them with something between amusement, surprise and blatant curiosity. Heat burned her face. Back in Royal only one day and already Logan was turning her life upside down

  Logan dropped her hand. “We can go out the quiet way or not. The decision’s yours.”

  Forcing herself to smile, she nodded. “Fine.” He started walking toward the door. She kept up with his long strides, her heels clicking on the polished hardwood floor.

  As soon as they entered the impressive foyer, Logan came to an abrupt halt beneath the glow of a rustic antler chandelier. Preventing herself from running into him, Melissa steadied herself with her palm on his sculptured back.

  She sucked in a breath. As his muscles shifted beneath her hand, memories of making love with him dulled her senses. Giving her head a shake, she stepped back.

  “Are you crazy?” she demanded, glaring at him. “People were beginning to stare at us back there.”

  Logan glanced toward the door, then back at her. “They wouldn’t have even noticed us if you’d just answered my question.”

  Melissa tossed her head back. “I have no intention of getting into a discussion about…about…” She stopped speaking and took a calming breath. Why hadn’t she heeded her inner warnings about returning to her hometown and the possibility of seeing Logan again? If her promotion hadn’t been riding on this assignment, she would never have come back. Never have taken the risk of seeing him.

  Ever.

  “Look, this is ridiculous.”

  “Is it?” He leaned toward her. “Ridiculous is the way you suddenly left, Melissa.” His hands went to his hips. “More than once I’ve tried to figure out why. What went wrong between us?” Cursing under his breath, he held her gaze. He didn’t admit that thinking about what had happened that last day, thinking about her and what they’d shared, could still drive him crazy.

  “I didn’t just take off,” she reminded him, her tone scorching. “I came to see you.”

  He made a sound of disgust. “Yeah, to toss my ring in my face and tell me you were leaving. Why?” he demanded. “Was it because you fell in love with someone else?” Though he braced himself for her answer, he didn’t want to believe she’d been seeing another man. It would kill him.

  “No!” Her face drained of color. “Is that what you thought?”

  “Hell, I didn’t know what to think. I believed you loved me. Then all of a sudden, you were telling me you didn’t want to be married.” His voice softened. “Do you even remember what we had together?”

  Melissa licked her lips. “Of course I do.” As soon as she said the words, she wished them back.

  Logan closed the distance between them. Unable to stop himself from touching her, he cupped his hand around her neck. Despite the anger that had simmered inside of him for so long, he wanted to pull her against him. “Do you, Melissa?” Something drove him to find out if she’d thought about him since she’d been gone, if she’d ever regretted leaving.

  Swallowing hard, Melissa’s eyes locked with his. Oh, how she’d loved this man. “Yes,” she whispered.

  Logan lowered his head, his lips lingering just above hers. “Then you remember just how good we were together.”

  Her gaze drifted lower to his mouth. “Oh, Logan.”

  At that moment the door to the ballroom whisked open. Logan straightened and stepped away from her as a man entered the foyer and walked hurriedly toward them.

  What the hell was he doing? He had no business even thinking about kissing Melissa Mason. He’d let his heart get tangled up with her before and their relationship had ended badly. Hadn’t he learned his lesson?

  Apparently not. After only a few minutes in her company, his mind had drifted to the memories of touching her.

  Kissing her.

  He wanted to know if she tasted as sweet as he remembered.

  No, it was more than curiosity. Dancing with her had stirred up all kinds of emotions inside him, made him aware of her in ways that time had blurred.

  “Melissa, there you are!”

  “Daniel!” Expelling a breath, Melissa turned away from Logan as her producer approached, relieved he’d chosen that moment to find her.

  After all the years apart from Logan, she never would have dreamed she’d give in so easily to him again, but God knows, if left alone a minute longer, she would have kissed him. Now that she knew she wasn’t immune to him, she’d keep her distance until she could get out of town.

  She gestured toward him. “This is an old friend of mine, Logan Voss. Logan, Daniel Graves. He’s the story producer for the feature on Royal’s anniversary.”

  “Mr. Voss.”

  Logan held out his hand. “Call me Logan,” he told the man as he tried to absorb Melissa’s description of him as an “old friend.” It stung more than it should have.

  Daniel clasped his hand with a firm grip. “It’s a pleasure t
o meet you.”

  “I hope you’re enjoying yourself at the ball,” Logan said as he studied the man. Twice his own age, Daniel Graves was thin and wiry with a nervous energy that made him look as if he was fidgeting even while he stood still.

  “I am.” He turned toward Melissa, his eyes wide with excitement. “And I’ve just heard the most exciting news. I was talking to one of the guests and heard that some of Jessamine Golden’s personal belongings have turned up at an auction!”

  “Yes, I know. I heard about it when I arrived in town yesterday and I have notes on it,” Melissa told him. “Apparently they auctioned off a saddle bag and a few other things. I was going to discuss the information with you on our trip back to Houston.”

  “So you already know about the map?” Daniel asked.

  Melissa frowned. “I know there was a map of some kind, but I fail to see what you’re so excited about.”

  “Inside the saddlebag was a treasure map.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Daniel, please don’t tell me you’re falling for that tale,” she scoffed.

  The producer ignored her remark and turned to Logan. “You don’t seem to be surprised.”

  Shaking his head, he replied, “The legend of Jessamine Golden burying a cache of gold bars somewhere around here has been circulating for years. The map and the rest of her items are on display at the Historical Society Museum.” The common thought among his friends at the Cattleman’s Club was that if Jessamine had indeed heisted the gold, the map was proof she’d intended to come back for it. Something must have prevented her from returning.

  “I hope to see them while I’m here,” Daniel stated.

  Logan settled back into a comfortable stance. “One of my friends, Jake Thorne, donated them to the museum after he bought them at the auction.”

  “The same Jake Thorne who’s running for mayor?” Melissa asked.

  “Yeah. Jake outbid Christine, who is now his fiancée.”

  “Really?” She frowned. “Why would he do that? Was he trying to increase the amount of money for charity or something?”