Beneath him Laurie shifted and raised her knees to take more of him. He wanted to thank her for it, but words were beyond him. He could still feel the tiny pulses in the muscles surrounding him. He was literally feeling her pleasure. His control stretched wire thin.
With a final nudge of his hips, she took all of him. He wanted to stay there, just there, and never move again. But he had to move or go mad. Slowly at first an ancient, primitive rhythm took over, and he began to thrust, withdraw, thrust. And she was with him, gripping him with her knees, her arms around his neck, her hips rising in time with his.
Their harsh gasps for breath faded from his hearing as his blood roared in his ears and his loins.
He looked down at her and found her watching him. Their eyes met and held.
Laurie had never seen anything so stirring as the sight of Trey above her, his face taut with passion, his eyes nearly black with it.
And then she saw nothing as the world exploded in a whirl of colors, blinding her. She held on to him as the only solid thing in life, and let herself go.
When she cried out her release, Trey felt it all around him, and it was more than he could resist. Her flesh, her spirit called to him and took him straight over the edge of the world with her.
Laurie had no idea how long she lay there in Trey’s arms, with his treasured weight on top of her. It might have been minutes, might have been hours. But when she was once again aware, she knew she was in for the heartache of her life. She was in love with Trey Wilder. Deeply, irrevocably in love.
But this was her problem, not his, and she vowed to keep it to herself. They had so little time left together, she did not want to spoil it. If he knew how she felt, he would likely become uncomfortable around her.
He wouldn’t take a declaration of her love lightly, she was sure. He would feel responsible. And while he might be, simply because of the man he was, there was nothing he could do about it, unless he was willing to turn himself into a totally despicable person, one she could not possibly love.
And that was about as likely as pigs taking wing.
“Are we still alive?” he asked, his voice husky.
Laurie smiled against his shoulder. “Ask me again this time next week. I might have a coherent thought by then.”
Deep laughter rumbled in his chest, vibrating clear through to hers.
Oh, the wonder of feeling his laughter. “I guess you must be all right. I don’t think dead men laugh.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty much.”
When he raised himself onto his forearms and looked down at her, he was smiling. Then, as he gazed into her eyes, his smile faded. He traced a thumb along her cheek. “I think you’ve ruined me for other women.”
Laurie felt a sudden tightening in her chest. She placed the fingers of one hand over his lips. “Don’t say things like that. Don’t look into the future.”
Trey closed his eyes and tilted back his head. How easy it had been to forget, he thought. For the space of an hour he had set aside the fact that she had a job and a home and a life to go back to in less than three weeks.
Utah. What the hell was there in Utah that she couldn’t find in Wyoming?
Whoa, pard. Was he actually thinking of asking her to stay? And do what? Live in his home and take care of his daughter? Be his housekeeper, and, oh, by the way, we’ll be sleeping together from now own, so get used to it?
Trey wasn’t sure where these thoughts were coming from, but he’d like to send them right back. He couldn’t, wouldn’t ask her for something as tacky as shacking up with him. That was damn sure no way for her to raise her daughters.
The obvious answer would be if they got—
Whoa. If he wasn’t mistaken, the M word had been about to take residence in his brain. The very idea stunned him. Was he really thinking of getting married?
Well, hell, hadn’t he been thinking that having Laurie and the girls in his home made him feel as if he had a family of his own?
Jeez, he was losing it. Marriage was about love and commitment. He could handle the commitment part, but they weren’t in love with each other. He’d seen marriages like that and swore he’d never have anything to do with such a loveless, lifeless arrangement.
So what did that leave them?
Just under three weeks.
“Right,” he said to her. “Better not to talk about the future.” But that didn’t mean he was ready to let her go. If he had so little time, he wanted to make the most of it. “This minute I’m thinking more about the past.”
The look she gave him was filled with caution. “The past?”
“Yeah.” He grinned and nudged his hips against hers, gratified at the way her eyes widened and darkened. “My teenage years. I’m feeling a lot like a randy teenager about now.”
For Laurie the heartache had already begun. He had offered no argument at all about discussing the future. For them there was no such thing. At least, not in his mind. But for now he was in her arms, still, even, inside her body. She could feel him there, growing, hardening.
They still had this, she thought, and it was no small thing.
No small thing? She snickered at the mental pun.
“You think this is funny?” Trey said with feigned outrage.
“No, no,” she protested as full laughter assailed her.
With a low growl he ran his hands up her ribs. “I’ll give you something to laugh about, woman.” He dug his fingers into her sides.
Laurie shrieked with laughter, squirming to get away from his tickling hands. Then her eyes widened, and she clamped a hand over her mouth. “Stop,” she managed through breathless laughter. “Stop, you idiot, we’ll wake the girls.”
“Not me,” he said innocently while dancing his fingers up her ribs. “I’m being real quiet. You’re the one making all the noise.”
Laurie solved the problem by pinching him on the rear.
“Hey, ow!”
“Now who’s making all the noise.”
A wicked gleam came into Trey’s eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to think of something to keep ourselves quiet.”
Laurie felt the nudge of his hips. Her eyes slid shut, and she smiled in anticipation. “What did you have in mind?”
“A little of this.” He thrust slowly, all the way to the hilt.
Laurie’s breath left in an audible whoosh.
“And a little of that.” One fraction of an inch at a time, he withdrew. “Then some more of this.” By the time he thrust in again he was nearly breathless.
“I don’t think,” she managed, her own breathing becoming strained, “that’s going to keep me quiet.”
In. Out. In. “It’s not?”
“No.” She tried to encourage him to move faster, but he gripped her hips and held her still. “Any minute I might just scream, if you don’t—” Her voice trailed off on a moan.
“If I don’t?”
“If you don’t…move…faster.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Fourteen
The next day while Trey was over at headquarters, Donna came to see Laurie.
“This is a surprise,” Laurie said. “Come in, come in.”
Donna entered the house and, first things first, gave Carrie and Amy each a great big hug. Then she looked closely at Laurie. “My, don’t you look chipper today.”
“I do?” She knew she did. Looked chipper, felt chipper.
“Like the cat that swallowed the canary.”
Laurie felt a blush sting her cheeks, but refused to acknowledge it.
Amy scrunched up her face. “A cat ate a canary?”
“It’s just a figure of speech,” Laurie told her.
Laurie could tell there was something on her aunt’s mind. The woman was positively about to burst, with what, Laurie couldn’t guess. Donna kept sending a glance toward the girls, meaning she didn’t want to talk in front of them.
Don’t let it be trouble, Laurie silently pleaded
. She was happy today. She didn’t want to lose this warm, rosy glow that had surrounded her since she’d spent most of the night in Trey’s bed. Even having to sneak back to her own room at three this morning like a naughty teenager hadn’t dampened her spirits.
The only blot on her happiness was that she knew it was temporary and that at the end, when she left, she would be devastated. But that was later. This was now, and she didn’t want to hear any bad news.
But Donna’s eyes were twinkling just a little too much for whatever she had on her mind to be bad.
“I came over for two reasons,” Donna said. “One, you left one of Katy’s pacifiers over at the house Sunday.”
“Oh, thanks. I’ve been wondering where that went. Of course, she’s got nearly a dozen still in their packaging.”
Donna laughed. “Trey had just bought out all the local stores, then we turned around and threw him a baby shower.”
Laurie’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “You threw Trey a baby shower? This I’ve got to hear.”
“It’s worth hearing, too. I could use a glass of tea if you want me to tell it right.”
“Girls, Aunt Donna and I are going to have us a nice, long visit. Grown-up talk. Why don’t you two go outside and play? Just remember, no—”
“No climbing trees,” they said in unison.
“You got it.” Laurie leaned down and kissed each one on the nose.
After the girls went out, Laurie poured a tall glass of iced tea for Donna and herself, and the two women settled where women tended to settle, at the kitchen table.
“Before we get into the baby shower, maybe you better spit out what you came here to tell me. You’re about to burst with it.”
“Tell you, nothing. Ask you, is more like it.”
Laurie frowned. “Ask me what?”
“Okay, say it’s none of my business, but it affects you, and it affects Trey, so that makes it my business twice over.”
“What does?”
Donna laughed out loud. “I was going to ask you about the stupid grin Trey’s been wearing since he showed up over at the house this morning. But since you’ve kinda got that same dazed look in your eyes, I guess I can figure things out for myself.”
Heat flooded Laurie’s cheeks. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Trey was wearing a stupid grin? The very thought made her smile.
“Oh, honey.” Donna reached across the table and took Laurie’s hand in hers. “I couldn’t be happier. Nothing would please me more than to see you and the girls settle here with Trey. The two of you were made for each other.”
The blood that had just flooded Laurie’s cheeks now drained straight to her toes. “Aunt Donna, you’ve got it all wrong.”
Donna’s eyes widened. “Got what wrong? You’re not going to try to convince me Trey’s over there grinning like a fool because he likes the way you flip a pancake.”
Laurie shook her head. The only words she could get out were, “I’m not staying, Aunt Donna. He…that is, we’re not…” She stopped and blew out a breath. “What I’m trying to say is that in two and a half weeks, the girls and I will be going home, as planned.”
“But why, when it’s plain as the nose on your face that you’re crazy about him.”
Laurie blinked. “It is not.”
“I saw that much on Sunday over at the house, with the two of you trying not to get caught staring at each other.”
“We were doing no such thing.”
Donna opened her mouth to respond, then snapped it shut. She eyed Laurie for a long moment before speaking. “All right, it’s none of my business. But if you think he’s not crazy about you, you’re wrong. Looks to me like the two of you need to spend some time out of the bedroom, talking.”
“Aunt Donna!”
“And I mean that in the nicest possible way,” Donna said, grinning.
Laurie had loved and admired her aunt for too many years to take offense at her plain speaking, but talking wouldn’t solve Laurie’s problem.
“What if we did talk?” she asked. “What if you’re right and he’s crazy about me? That doesn’t mean things would work out. How am I supposed to trust my judgment about men after Jimmy? How am I supposed to make a relationship work when I made such a mess of things before?”
“Now, that’s enough of that kind of talk. I’ll grant you didn’t choose well the last time. Although Jimmy was good for one thing, bless his little pointed head—he sure sired good daughters. But that’s about all he was good for. The only part of that divorce you were responsible for was way back when you said ‘I do.’ You just picked the wrong man, that’s all. Trey is nothing like Jimmy. If you don’t know that, you’re not as smart as I always thought you were.”
“Of course he’s not like Jimmy. But Aunt Donna, I’m still the same me, the same one who thought Jimmy hung the moon.”
“Oh, no.” Donna shook her head. “No, you’re not. You were eighteen years old when you married him. A baby. You’re older now and smarter.”
“God, I hope I’m smarter,” Laurie muttered. “I know I’m older. By about a million years.”
“You could always just apply for the job permanently,” Donna said.
Laurie stared at her. “Apply for what job?”
“This job, ninny. The job of Trey’s housekeeper and nanny. That way you could stay, and whatever else came after that, well, at least you’d be here to let it happen.”
Laurie was shaking her head before Donna finished her sentence. “Oh, no. I have a job, thank you, and a house. I’ve worked damn hard for both. And you want me to sweep floors for a living?”
“I happen to know you adore sweeping floors, and these floors pay a darn sight more than teaching school. Think about it. Just promise me you’ll think about it.”
Donna left a short while later. Both of them forgot that she’d intended to tell Laurie about Trey’s baby shower.
Laurie had very carefully sidestepped Donna’s demand for a promise to think about the job as Trey’s housekeeper, beyond her current agreement. She refused to think about it. There was no way she could stay, live in Trey’s house, and not die a little bit each day knowing he didn’t and probably never would return her love. It would kill her.
“Ho, ho, look at little brother,” Jack said to Ace.
Trey had been cooling his heels in Ace’s office for a half hour waiting for the two of them to show up. But he didn’t mind leaning back in the big leather wingback chair, sipping coffee with his feet propped on Ace’s desk. Gave him plenty of time to remember last night.
“I’d say he’s feeling pretty chipper this morning,” Ace said.
“I’m always chipper,” Trey answered, smiling.
Jack laughed. “Not like this. Except now and then, and not at all lately.”
Trey knew Jack expected him to take the bait. He just couldn’t get worked up to being irritated with either of his brothers. It was too damn fine a day for irritation. Still, if he didn’t respond, even halfheartedly, somebody would think he was sick and break out the thermometer.
“Okay,” he said lazily. “I’ll bite. What do you mean by that?”
“What he means,” Ace said, his lips twitching, “is that you haven’t looked this smug and happy since you came back from that weekend in Las Vegas. And now that we’ve all met Katy, we pretty much know what you did that weekend. Last night must have been a hell of a night.”
Still half reclining, and with his feet propped on Ace’s desk, Trey settled his coffee mug on his belly and leaned his head against the tall back of the chair. “Go ahead, try all you want. You can’t make me mad today.”
“Oh, ho,” Jack said. “Does this mean she’s staying?”
Trey narrowed his eyes. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you can make me mad. Butt out, bro. Both of you.”
“Come on,” Jack wheedled. For a grown man, he could wheedle like a champ. “It’s us, number three. You can tell us.”
“Do you talk about h
ow you spend your nights with Lisa? Or you,” he said to Ace, “with the fox?”
Ace narrowed his eyes. “I’ve told you before, that’s my wife you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, and she’s still a fox.”
“Wait a minute,” Jack said. “Listen to him, Ace. He’s putting Laurie in with Lisa and Belinda. By God, he’s in love with her.”
Trey’s feet hit the floor. Coffee sprayed across his chest and legs and the corner of Ace’s desk.
“Hey, watch it,” Ace protested.
“You watch it,” Trey growled. “Nobody said anything about love, dammit.” He wasn’t in love. Of course he wasn’t. What a damn fool thing for Jack to say.
Jack bit back a grin and rubbed his forefinger along the side of his nose. “Who was it who said something about protesting too much? Shakespeare?”
Trey glared at his brothers. “Who called this damn meeting, anyway? I’ve got work to do, even if the two of you don’t.”
“Okay.” Ace held his hands up in surrender. “Backing off.”
“For now,” Jack added.
“We need to talk about the cattle rustling,” Ace said.
All personal matters flew out the door. This was ranch business, and it was serious.
“What’s the latest word?” Trey asked.
“Dane says they’re getting bolder, taking more cattle each time they hit. If they stick to their current pattern, they’ll hit Wyatt County in the next few weeks. We need to be ready.”
“Patrols?” Trey asked.
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
They got down to business and made what plans they could. The herd was currently on the government lease land up in the mountains. The rustlers wouldn’t be able to get up there with the truck and trailer it was suspected they used, but there was nothing to keep them from cutting out however many cattle they wanted and herding them down on horseback.
“So that’s our first priority,” Ace said. “We’ll send riders up there to keep an eye on things.”
They talked for another thirty minutes, covering every angle they could think of, using what little information the sheriff had been able to pass along to Ace.
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