The #1 Bestsellers Collection 2011

by Catherine Mann

  Adam’s insides were still rattled even as he fought for the legendary calm that was normally such a huge part of his life. Damn it, he’d been going nuts wondering where she was. If she was safe. He’d spent the last two hours alternately watching the storm roll in and searching the horizon for a sign of her returning. He felt as if he’d been running all day. Exhausted and pushed to the edge of his limits.

  He reached out, swiped her wet hair off her forehead and said, “Damn it, Gina, you don’t go riding without telling someone where you’re going. This is a big ranch. Anything could happen, even to an experienced rider.”

  “I’m fine,” she mumbled and rubbed water off her face with her hands. Hunching her shoulders, she added sternly, “Stop yelling.”

  “I haven’t even started,” he warned, still riding the rush of emotion that had damn near choked him when she rode into the yard. Didn’t she know what could have happened?

  Rattlesnakes could have spooked her horse. Wildcats down from the foothills looking for food could have attacked her. Hell, her mare could have stepped into a hole and broken a leg, leaving Gina stranded miles from help. His heart was pounding, his brain was screaming and the temper he’d kept a close rein on ever since he’d discovered she was gone finally cut loose.

  Grabbing her upper arms, he shook her until her head fell back and her wide, golden eyes fixed on his face. “What the hell was so important that you felt you had to ride out with a storm coming in?”

  She blinked up at him and the rain fell like tears down her face. “Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”

  She might as well have slapped him. Fine. She didn’t want to tell him what was going on? Worked for him. But damned if he’d stand in the yard and drown. “Come on.” He turned and dragged her toward the house.

  She struggled in his grasp but no way was she going to get loose. “I’ve got to see to Shadow.”

  “Now you’re worried about the mare?” He shook his head. “One of the men will take care of her.”

  “Will you just let go, Adam?” she argued, dragging her heels trough the mud. “I can walk on my own. I take care of myself. And I can take care of my own horse.”

  “Yeah?” He looked her up and down. “Looks like you’re doing a hell of a job there, Gina. Nice one.” Then he glanced over his shoulder, pointed and said, “There. Sam’s got Shadow. He’ll rub her down and feed her. Satisfied?”

  She looked, too, and watched her mare being led into the warm, dry stable and it was as if the last of her strength just drained away. She swayed in place and something inside Adam turned over. She’d thrown his life into turmoil and now she was making him yell like a maniac and he never yelled.

  “Come on,” he muttered and took hold of her again, leading her behind him and he didn’t stop until he’d reached the front door. He threw it open, stomped off as much mud as he could from his boots, then stepped into the house. “Esperanza!”

  The older woman scuttled into the hall from the kitchen and immediately raced toward Gina. “Dios mio, what’s happened here? Miss Gina, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Gina said, still trying to get out of Adam’s tight-fisted grip. “I’m sorry about the mess,” she added, waving one hand at the rainwater and mud sliding across the once-gleaming entryway floor.

  “No matter, no matter.” Esperanza threw a hard look at Adam. “What did you do to her?”

  “Me?”

  “No,” Gina interrupted quickly, briefly. “It wasn’t Adam. I got caught in the storm.”

  Still, Esperanza shot Adam a death glare that clearly said, you could have stopped this if you’d tried. Whatever. He wasn’t going to stand there and defend himself while Gina froze to death.

  “I’m taking her upstairs,” Adam said, already heading for the wide staircase. “We’ll want something hot in, say, an hour? Maybe some of your tortilla soup, if there is any.”

  “Sí, sí,” Esperanza said. “One hour.” Then she clucked her tongue as Adam swung Gina into his arms and started up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

  “I can walk,” she complained.

  “Swear to God, don’t you say another word,” he snapped. At the head of the stairs, he glanced back to see Esperanza making short work of the mess he and Gina had left behind. Time for another raise for his housekeeper.

  Gina, apparently unaffected by the fury pumping through him, slapped one hand to his chest and said, “Damn it, Adam, I’m not an invalid.”

  “No, you’re not. Just crazy,” he said, sparing her only a quick look before continuing down the hall to the master bedroom. He walked inside and never paused until he reached the connected bath. A huge room, with miles of white and green tiles, it boasted a double sink, a shower big enough for an orgy and a hot tub with a wide bay window that overlooked the spectacular back gardens. Now though, rain sluiced down the glass, making the view blurry and the distant horizon nothing more than a smudge of gray and black.

  “Strip,” he said when he set her down.

  She glared at him. “I will not.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it for you then. Not like I don’t know my way around your body.” Adam reached for the buttons on her shirt, but Gina slapped at his hands. Didn’t hit him very hard, since she was shaking and so cold her teeth were chattering.

  “You might want to wait until you’re stronger to make a fight of it,” he said tightly and reached down to turn the faucets on the hot tub. He flipped up the latch to set the plug and turned back to her while hot water rushed into the tub.

  He began tearing the buttons from her shirt and peeling the sodden garment off of her. “You’re half-frozen.” Then he undid her bra, leaving Gina to clasp one arm across her breasts in a useless bid for modesty.

  “A little late for maidenly concerns, don’t you think?” he asked as he shook his head at the defiant glare shooting out of her eyes.

  “I don’t want you here,” she said, and her words might have carried more weight if her voice hadn’t trembled.

  “Tough,” he said, kneeling down in front of her to tug off one of her boots. “What the hell were you thinking? Why did you go out today? You saw the storm. Heard the forecast.”

  “I thought I had time,” she said, reaching out to slap one hand on the counter to keep her balance while he lifted first one of her feet, then the next. “I needed to—”

  “What?” He looked up at her from where he knelt in front of her. Still furious, still relieved, still battling both sensations, he grumbled, “Needed to what?”

  She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter now.”

  It irritated him that she wouldn’t tell him what she was thinking. Where she’d been. What had put the look of utter devastation on her face and in her eyes. He wanted to … damn it, he wanted to make her feel better. When the hell had this happened? When had he begun to care what she thought, how she felt? And how could he stop it?

  Shaking his head, he tugged off her boots, then her socks and went to work on her jeans. The denim fabric was so soaked, it was hard to maneuver and he had to put some real effort into dragging them down her thighs and calves. Cold water ran in rivulets down her pale, blue-tinged skin. She shivered again and Adam fisted his hands to fight the urge to caress her, to warm her with his touch.

  Instead he hissed in a breath. “You’re cold to the bone.”

  “Pretty much.”

  Behind them, hot water rushed into the gigantic tub and steam rose to fog the bay window, shutting out the night, sealing them into that one room together.

  “Get in,” Adam said flatly.

  She looked at him. “First you get out.”

  “Not likely,” he told her and picked her up as if she weighed nothing, then plopped her down into the tub. Gina sucked in a gulp of air as warm water met her cold legs, but an instant later, she sat down and let that heat reach down inside her and somewhat ease the cold that seemed locked deep.

  Gina closed her eyes and leaned her head back, focusing only on t
he delicious feel of the hot water surrounding her tired, aching, freezing body. She heard Adam hit the switch to turn on the hot-tub jets, and an instant later, she felt hot, steady pulses hitting her poor, abused body like tiny, miraculous blessings.

  Okay, he was bossy and irritating and right now, the last human being on the face of the planet she wanted to be alone with, but he’d been right about the hot tub. And she wanted to thank him for turning on the jets. When she opened her eyes to do that, though, she saw Adam peeling out of his own wet clothing. “What are you doing?”

  He glared at her and tugged his jeans down to join the wet shirt he’d already tossed to the floor to lay atop both pairs of boots. His broad chest ran with water and droplets of the stuff fell from the tips of his wet hair. “What the hell does it look like?”

  “I know just what it looks like,” she said and scooted back in the tub as far from him as she could get. Yes, her body was starting to fire into life, but it wasn’t as if she wanted it to happen. It was simply a biological imperative. See Adam naked, go all hot and tingly.

  God, would it be that way forever?

  No. Eventually if she could go without seeing him for ten or fifteen years, she’d probably be able to control her reaction to an occasional sighting. At the moment, though, she was having a hard time fighting down her body’s urges. Despite the warnings and dire predictions her brain kept screaming.

  He stepped into the tub, settled against the side opposite her and as the frothy water splashed at his bare chest, he looked at her and said, “I was worried.”

  A ping of something warm and sweet echoed inside her for a moment or two. A few weeks ago … heck, even a few days ago, she would have loved to hear Adam say that to her. It would have given her hope, made her think that there was still a chance for them.

  Now she knew better.

  Gina looked into his eyes and could only think that now, it wasn’t enough. The worry for her, the fear that she’d been hurt was no more than he would have felt for a neighbor. An acquaintance.

  She wanted more.

  And she wasn’t going to get it.

  “You’re still cold,” he said.

  “I am.” So very cold. Colder than she’d ever been and Gina had the distinct feeling she’d better get used to the sensation.

  “I can fix that.” Adam lunged forward, grabbed her arms and then swept back, pulling her up against him, stretching his long legs out in the hot tub.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head down to his chest. She nestled in, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear.

  “Don’t do that to me again,” he said, his voice rumbling through his chest.

  Hot water sprayed up onto her face and the pummeling jets pounded at her back as Adam stroked her skin. She thought he might have kissed the top of her head, but Gina dismissed that notion immediately, sure she was only fooling herself.

  “I won’t.” Not that she’d have the chance to worry him for much longer. Her time at the King ranch was definitely coming to a close. And when she left here, Adam wouldn’t give her another thought. He wouldn’t have to be concerned about her whereabouts. He’d have what he wanted. A twenty-acre parcel of land to make the King holdings whole again.

  In a few months time, she’d be nothing more than an inconvenient memory. Maybe he’d walk that acreage he’d worked so hard to earn and think about her. Maybe he’d wonder then what she was doing, or where she was. But then, he’d put it out of his mind. He’d lock the memory of her away as completely as he had that of Monica and Jeremy.

  “At least take your damn cell phone with you next time,” Adam said, stroking his big, rough hands up and down her back in long, steady caresses, a silky counterpoint to the hot tub jets. “About made me insane when I called you and heard the phone ringing up here.”

  “I will.” She hadn’t been thinking when she left the ranch or she would have told someone where she was going. She’d been raised to know better. Accidents could happen anywhere, anytime and finding someone on a ranch the size of Adam’s could have taken weeks. As to the cell phone, she hadn’t wanted it with her. Hadn’t wanted anyone to be able to intrude on her ride into Adam’s past.

  “Damn it, Gina …” This time his voice was more of a growl. She heard the need in it, felt the hard, insistent throb of his erection beneath her. His body was tight, his heartbeat quickened and in seconds, his hands were moving over her with more hunger than care.

  “You could have been hurt,” he muttered thickly and turned her face up to his. He bent his head and kissed her, hard and long and deep. His tongue swept into her mouth, his breath dusted her cheek and the low moan that issued from his throat slipped inside her, becoming one with her own.

  The rhythm of the jets pounded at her, pushing her closer to Adam, hammering home her need as if in punctuation to the raw desire rising up in her.

  He was hard and thick and ready. His breath came in strangled gasps as she slid one leg over his middle. His big hands came down on her waist and settled her atop him. Their eyes met and held as Gina felt the slow slide of his body into hers. He filled her and she savored it. Relished it. Imprinted the feeling on her memory so that she’d always be able to recall with perfect clarity the feel of his hands on her slick skin. The scent of him. The taste of his kiss.

  Because without her diaphragm standing in the way, she knew she’d be pregnant soon. Knew that even as he touched her, even as his body and hers became one, they were already pulling apart.

  And she knew that every touch from this night on, would be a silent goodbye.

  Two months later, Adam was in his study, going over reports from his brokers and projections from several of the smaller companies the King ranch held an interest in. At least once a week he was holed up in this room, going over the insane amount of paperwork a huge corporation like his generated.

  The study hadn’t changed much since his grandfather’s time. The walls were a dark hunter-green. There were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on two of the walls and a bank of windows displaying the wide lawn at the front of the house. A mahogany wetbar took up one corner of the room and a fifty-inch plasma television was hidden behind a copy of one of his mother’s favorite Manet paintings. There were two sofas, facing each other, waiting for someone to sit down and have a conversation, along with two oversize club chairs in maroon leather. And for winter, there was a stone fireplace with a hearth big enough for a child to stand up straight in.

  It was his sanctuary. No one came in here, except Esperanza, and that was only to clean. Completely caught up in the columns of figures and the suggestions on further diversifying, he didn’t even notice when the study door opened quietly.

  He heard it shut, though, and said without looking up, “I’m not hungry, Esperanza. But I could use more coffee if you’ve got some.”

  “Sorry,” Gina said, “fresh out.”

  Surprised, Adam lifted his gaze and saw her look quickly around the one room in the house she’d never been. She was wearing worn blue jeans, a long-sleeved red T-shirt and boots that looked as old as the ranch itself. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of her neck and she wasn’t wearing a speck of makeup. Yet her golden eyes seemed alive with fire and emotion and he knew he’d never seen a more beautiful woman.

  He felt the now all-too-familiar rush of a near electrical charge jolt through him as he watched her. Instantly his groin went hard as granite and an ache settled deep inside him. They’d been married for months and still he hadn’t become immune to her presence.

  Irritated by that thought, he deliberately lowered his gaze to the stacks of papers in front of him. “Didn’t know it was you, Gina. I’m kind of busy right now. Is there something you need?”

  “No,” she said softly, walking across the thick red Oriental carpet toward the massive oak desk that had once been his father’s. “You’ve already given me everything I need.”

  “What?” Her solemn tone, more than the words, c
aught his attention. He lifted his gaze to her again and for the first time, noticed the sad smile curving her mouth and the gleam of unshed tears making her eyes shine brilliantly. “What’re you talking about?” he asked, standing to face her. “Is something wrong?”

  She shook her head, brushed away a single tear that escaped her eye to roll down her cheek and pulled a folded piece of paper from her back pocket. “No, Adam. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything’s just right.”

  “Then …?”

  In answer, she handed him the piece of paper and watched him as he unfolded it carefully. The first thing Adam saw was one word, in chunky black lettering.

  Deed.

  His fingers tightened on the paper, making it crackle in the stillness. This could only mean … looking at her finally, he said, “You’re pregnant?”

  She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I am. I did a pregnancy test on my own, then went to the doctor yesterday to confirm.” She took a deep breath and said, “I’m about six weeks along. Everything looks fine.”

  Gina. Pregnant with his child. Emotion he didn’t want and refused to acknowledge ran crazily through his mind. His gaze dropped to her flat belly as if he could see through her body to the tiny child already growing within. Child. His child. He waited for the pain to cut at him, but it didn’t happen and he didn’t know what to make of that.

  “Congratulations, Adam,” Gina said, shattering his thoughts with her quiet, somehow broken, voice. “You did a great job. Held up your end of our deal. Now, you’ve got the land you wanted, and our bargain’s complete.”

  “Yeah.” Congratulations to him. His fingers smoothed over the paper he held and knew he should be feeling a sense of satisfaction. Completion. For five years, he’d dedicated himself to acquiring the last pieces to his ranch. And here it was. The final parcel in his hands and he felt … nothing.

  “I’m all packed,” Gina was saying and Adam frowned, narrowed his gaze and looked at her.