Texas Heat

by Barbara Mccauley

  She did as he asked. She would have done anything he’d asked at that moment. Heat coiled inside her and it felt as if she were tearing apart. He filled her, bringing her to the brink, then pulling away. He moved slowly, holding her gaze with his, holding her hips still when she attempted to hurry him.

  “Jake,” she breathed, “please...I can’t...”

  “Yes, you can,” he whispered hoarsely. “I want to watch you go crazy, baby. Just for me.” He began to move faster. “Only for me.”

  Savannah caught her lower lip, but she couldn’t stop the moan. Her blood pounded in her temples. Her heart hammered in her chest. And still she held his gaze.

  She called him names. A mixture of endearments and cursing. He only smiled, filling her again and again with exquisite deliberateness.

  Until she did go crazy.

  And to her ultimate satisfaction, she brought him with her.

  * * *

  There was no perception of time for Savannah. Only a dim hazy awareness of the moonlit room and the slow return of the senses. The tick of the bedside clock, the lone call of a night bird. Damp skin against damp skin. The pressure of the soft mattress against her back and a hard muscled body on top of her.

  She couldn’t move. Jake shifted his weight, pulling her onto her side without breaking the intimate connection of their bodies. She smiled contentedly, amazed he was able to do that. His lips grazed the length of her collarbone and moved slowly up her neck.

  She waited for the avalanche of expected emotions to roll over her and carry her away. Embarrassment. Guilt. Regret. Most certainly regret.

  Nothing. She felt none of those things. Only an incredible sense of the world being right. That she was where she belonged. Perhaps tomorrow she’d feel differently, but for now, she had an extraordinary desire to purr.

  “Remind me to thank Jessica for keeping Emma tonight,” Jake said between ragged breaths.

  Savannah smiled and ran her fingers down the sinews of Jake’s arm. “And Amy.”

  His teeth nibbled on her earlobe. “Hmm. And Amy’s mother.”

  Her fingers skated across his thigh. “And Amy’s fath—”

  He caught her mouth with his, cutting off her words. His kiss was possessive, as ardent as it was passionate.

  Jake wanted desperately to tell her what he was feeling, but he didn’t understand it himself. He’d thought he could distance himself once they made love. That he’d be able to think clearly and logically. But he couldn’t. Not yet.

  He pulled her against him and marveled at the silky feel of her hair against his shoulder and the soft brush of her breasts against his chest.

  Her fingers trailed lazily over his arm. “I thought you’d gone off with a redhead tonight,” she admitted.

  “Redhead?” Jake’s brow knotted. “Oh, you mean Marie.”

  She looked up at him, but he said nothing else. Savannah frowned and pinched his arm. He laughed and pulled her tighter to him. “Marie is crazy about Jared. Every time she sees me, she asks how he’s doing, but what she really wants to know is does she have a chance with him.”

  So the woman hadn’t been after Jake. Savannah smiled against Jake’s chest. “Does she?”

  Jake let out a long heavy breath and shook his head. “Jared’s too busy blaming himself for Jonathan’s death to get involved with anyone.”

  Savannah lifted her head and looked up at Jake. “Jonathan?”

  He moved away from her then and sat, leaning back against the headboard. “Jonathan was our brother, Jared’s twin. He died three years ago in an oil-rig accident. Jared blames himself.”

  Jared’s twin. Savannah remembered the picture in the hallway with Jared and another boy. It had been Jonathan, she realized now. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, then moved into his arms.

  “Yeah,” he said softly, running his fingers over Savannah’s hair. “We all miss him.”

  Savannah listened as Jake’s heart slowly returned to normal. She’d lost a sister, he a brother. They both understood the pain of that loss. When she pressed her lips to Jake’s chest, his hands moved down and tightened on her shoulders.

  “There’s something you still have to do tonight, Savannah,” he murmured against her temple.

  She pulled away and looked into his eyes. “And what’s that?”

  “Dance with me.”

  She raised one brow. “Exactly what kind of dancing did you have in mind?”

  One corner of his mouth turned up and his eyes smiled. “Something slow.”

  She lifted her mouth to his. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Eight

  Jake was already gone when Savannah awoke the next morning. Dawn was barely more than a pale streak across the horizon. She felt guilty that she’d slept while he worked.

  Yet she also felt wonderful.

  Savannah arched her back, then sat up, watching the early-morning light gently nudge the day. The sheets were a rumpled mess, much as she imagined herself, and the blanket was lying on the floor beside the bed.

  Jake’s bed.

  Closing her eyes, Savannah leaned back against the antique mahogany headboard and sighed. She’d known that they would make love. She may have denied it on a conscious level, but inside, deep down where that little voice whispered, she’d known all along. Maybe even from the first time they’d met, when he’d taken her hand in his. Even then, it had been powerful.

  Powerful. That was the word. How else could she describe what had happened between them? Beautiful, yes. Incredible, definitely. But “powerful” gave the feeling a life of its own. Lord knew, it certainly had a mind of its own. Her cheeks grew hot as she remembered her unusual—or should she say animated—lack of inhibition. They’d slept, but never for long. It took only a brush of lips, or the slightest touch of a hand, and they were in each other’s arms again with an urgency that had shocked them both.

  But what really shocked her was that now, as she lay in Jake’s bed, she felt no regret. She refused to spoil the most incredible night of her life by wishing it hadn’t happened. It had happened.

  And she was in love.

  From the first moment he’d placed his hand in hers she’d been acutely aware of something between them. She’d told herself it was just physical, that it would pass, but in her heart, she’d known all along that it went much deeper than that. It had come to life when he’d kissed her that first time after they’d fallen in the mud hole, and grown with intensity as each day passed. She could no more have prevented it than she could stop the sun from rising.

  With a sigh, she stared out the window again. The sun had risen. They’d spent the night together, made love, and now it was just another day. Jake had made it clear he wanted no ties, no commitments. She had no reason to believe he felt any different about that now than he did last night. For him, it had been physical. She was the one with the problem.

  She frowned. Falling in love with Jake was going to make her life extremely complicated. But then, when it came to Jake, what else could she expect?

  * * *

  Jake pitched the last of the hay into the end stall, then shut off the water spigot filling the trough. Rosemary moved closer and nudged Jake’s pocket. Savannah had been riding the chestnut mare almost every day, and the animal had come to expect a treat.

  “Savannah’s been spoiling you, hasn’t she?” he said, and pulled out a hunk of carrot. Rosemary snatched it up and crunched loudly. “Better not get used to it,” Jake warned the mare as he rubbed her ears.

  Listen to your own advice, he told himself as he closed the stall gate. After last night, it would be so easy to let himself get used to a lot of things. Like the feel of warm, soft skin against his every night. The touch of silky hair against his chest. Someone to whisper thoughts to in the early morning....

  Not just any someone. Savannah.

  She’d gotten to him. More than he wanted to admit. More than he’d ever dreamed possible. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
<
br />   Was there?

  No. He’d been down that road before. City women couldn’t cut it here for the long term. Carolyn had been all right the first six months. Then she’d started traveling with Myrna to “visit civilization.” Then she’d started traveling on her own. He hadn’t the money or the patience to support that then. And he sure as hell didn’t have it now.

  You think I’d raise kids in this hayseed town? Not in a million years, cowboy.

  Emma’s calf bawled at him from the corner stall, waiting impatiently for her breakfast. Jake realized he’d clenched his hands into fists, and he loosened his fingers, letting the anger pass through him. There were some things a man never forgave.

  He picked up one of the bottles of formula he’d brought with him from the house. “You miss Emma, don’t you, Betsy?” Jake crooned, heading for the stall. “I guess I do, too.”

  He did miss her. She’d been gone one day and he found himself anxious for her return. Not that he’d have missed last night for anything, he thought with a slow smile. In fact, if he hurried, maybe he could get back before Savannah awoke. He was tired, but he wasn’t that tired.

  She’d been sleeping peacefully when he’d slipped out of bed this morning. He’d had the most incredible urge to pull her in his arms and just hold her, nothing else. Just hold her and tell her—

  Tell her what?

  “Good morning.”

  He spun abruptly at the sound of her soft voice. She was dressed already, in jeans and a blue shirt rolled to the elbows. Her hair fell loosely around her shoulders. As her gaze met his, he realized there were faint shadows under her eyes. Her cheeks were cranberry red.

  She was embarrassed, he realized.

  He set the bottle down and walked toward her. When he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, she came willingly. Eagerly. Thank God, he thought.

  “It is now,” he whispered against her cheek, then kissed her again. Deeply.

  She responded to his kiss by slipping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” he murmured, moving her toward a pile of fresh hay.

  She laughed softly. “You certainly are trying.”

  Arms entwined, they fell together on the hay. He kissed her, and her lips were warm and pliant under his. She was so soft, he thought, so incredibly soft. He rolled her onto her back and reached for the snap of her jeans. Her eyes glinted with passion and she reached for him, as well.

  Betsy bawled again.

  Jake sighed and laid his forehead against Savannah’s. “That cow is going to be steaks before this day is through.”

  Savannah rose reluctantly and brushed the hay off her jeans. “Don’t let Emma hear you say that. She’s got Betsy entered in the Roundup next week.”

  Picking up the bottle, Savannah moved toward the calf. Betsy clamped down hungrily on the nipple. Jake watched her feed the animal and a strange feeling centered itself in his chest. In the two years his ex-wife had been here, she’d never once come near any of the animals. She’d hated the smell and the dirt.

  “Savannah.” He moved beside her.

  She smoothed the hair between Betsy’s ears. “Hmm?”

  His heart began to pound and his palms felt sweaty. “I want you to stay.”

  Her hand stilled, but she didn’t look at him. “Stay?”

  “Here,” he said. “With me. You and Emma.”

  She stared at Betsy. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  Dammit, why was she making this so difficult? Did she have any idea how hard this was for him? “I want you and Emma to come live here, at Stone Creek.”

  She set the nearly empty bottle down and rose slowly. Her gaze lifted to him and he saw the cautious look in her eyes. “In what capacity?”

  In what capacity? It wasn’t as if he was hiring, for God’s sake. “You and me, and Emma.”

  Her lips thinned. “Why?”

  He felt his jaw tense. “We’re good together, Savannah. Last night proved that. And as far as Emma is concerned, a family would be good for her.”

  Savannah stared at him for a long moment. “That’s right, Jake,” she said with deadly calm. “A family would be good for Emma. A real family. If you’re looking for a live-in, no-strings-attached bedmate, try the Help Wanted section of the newspaper.”

  “Savannah, just listen—”

  She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “Have you given any consideration to Emma and the kind of example we’d be setting for her if we lived here under those conditions?”

  “People live together all the time. It’s a fact of life.”

  “It’s not a fact of my life, Jake. And it’s not going to be for Emma, either. My sister may have fallen in love with the wrong man and gotten pregnant, but I have no intention of making that same mistake.”

  Jake felt as if a fist had punched him in the stomach. His eyes narrowed. “Are you saying that having a baby with me would be a mistake?”

  She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. “You haven’t heard one word I’ve said, have you?” she said quietly.

  When she opened her eyes again, he saw the hurt there. He just didn’t understand it. “The answer is no, Jake. I won’t live with you, not like that.”

  Shoulders stiff, head high, she walked past him and out of the barn.

  Fine, then. He clenched and unclenched his hands, resisting the urge to follow her. Let her walk. Better now than later. If she didn’t care enough to stay and give it a try, then he’d completely misunderstood last night. It wasn’t the first time he’d been wrong about a woman.

  But he sure as hell intended to see that it would be the last.

  * * *

  Stone Manor was an opulent, twenty-three-room mansion that sat dead center in the one hundred thousand acres that made up Stone Creek. The exterior of the house was something on the order of Georgian Colonial, while the interior ran somewhere along the lines of Greek Revival. In the entry, Emma stared openmouthed at a marble fountain surrounded by alabaster water maidens, then made faces at herself in the glossy white marble floors. Green silk covered the walls, and gold trimmed the extensive thick moldings.

  It was the most elaborate, ornately decorated home that Savannah had ever seen. And the fact that it was in the middle of nowhere made it all the more confusing. Savannah was beginning to understand a little more clearly Jake’s hostility toward this woman. He worked fourteen-hour days with almost no help just to keep the ranch operating, while Myrna had spent thousands of dollars on wall murals of fat-cheeked cherubs.

  Savannah had tried to get out of the lunch date with Jake’s stepmother, but after canceling twice using flimsy excuses, there was no avoiding it. Myrna had just completed a grand tour of the mansion, with all twenty-three rooms described in excruciating detail, then left Savannah and Emma in the parlor while she saw about lunch. Emma sat on the edge of the cream damask couch beside Savannah, swinging her feet and toying with the blue buttons on the front of her paisley jumper.

  “Aunt Savannah, when can we go home?”

  “Soon, sweetie. After we eat lunch.”

  “I need to feed Betsy.” Emma’s voice was close to a whine. Savannah didn’t blame her. A whine seemed quite appropriate after an hour with Myrna.

  The woman came through a pair of double doors at that moment, carrying a silver tray. She bent down in front of Emma and held the tray toward her. “Try a bite of the veal pâté, dear. It’s really quite tasty.”

  The child eyed the molded brownish concoction with serious misgivings, then glanced up at Savannah. “What’s veal pâté?”

  Savannah shifted uncomfortably. “It’s, uh, well...”

  Myrna set the tray down. “It’s calf’s liver, dear. It’s very tender if the calf is young.”

  “Calf’s liver?” Emma stared at Myrna in horror. “You mean, like Betsy?”

  Myrna frowned. “Betsy?”

  Savannah straightened quickly. “Emma, would you please go get my purse?
I left it on the table by the front door.”

  Thankful for any excuse to escape, Emma jumped up. “Can I play with the fish in the fountain?”

  “Just watch them.” Savannah breathed a sigh of relief as Emma left the room. That had been a little too close.

  Myrna stared after the child, her brow furrowed. “I’m afraid I’ve never been around children very much. I was an only child and my mother left when I was ten. Daddy has always taken care of me, given me everything I’ve wanted. I can’t help wondering what it would have been like if J.T. and I had...well, if we’d had a child.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have come,” Savannah said carefully and started to rise.

  “No, no.” Myrna waved her back. “Please don’t go. I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable, but I need to talk to you. About Emma’s land.”

  Savannah had wondered when she’d get around to the subject. “What about it?”

  “I’m interested in buying it, and I’d like to know what your intentions are.”

  Her only intentions at this moment were to get this lunch over with as soon as possible. “I haven’t any.”

  “Jake’s executor of the estate, you know.” Myrna took a bite of the cracker. “He’ll fight you if you decide to sell.”

  A familiar pain tightened around Savannah’s heart. She and Jake had barely spoken since that morning in the barn after the night they’d made love. That had been three days ago. Three long agonizing days. And nights. The nights had been even longer. In one weak desperate moment she’d even considered accepting his offer to live with him. The thought of living without him was unbearable.

  But she couldn’t. There was more to love than the physical. There was respect and honor and trust. Jake obviously felt none of those things for her, and she knew she’d certainly never respect herself if she gave in. And while self-respect might not keep her warm on a cold night, at least she’d be able to look at herself in the mirror every morning.

  “As Emma’s guardian, I believe I have the final say what happens to the land,” Savannah said firmly.

  “But what if you weren’t her guardian?” Myrna asked. “The Stone children can be very persuasive. A court might grant custody to a brother or sister over an aunt.”