by Nora Roberts
"Thanks. Cassie—just the woman I want to see."
"Oh? Is something wrong?"
"I've got a problem." To bribe a smile out of Emma, he held out his cookie. "Would you give me a kiss right here for this?" he asked.
Keeping an eye on the cookie, Emma leaned forward and touched her pursed lips to his nose.
"A problem?" Cassie repeated. Nerves humming, she set Emma down and told her to go out and watch the boys play. "What is it?"
"Well, I'll tell you." He leaned back on the counter. "Regan and I found this place a little farther out of town, on the Quarry Road. Needs some work." He grinned at his wife. "We're thinking of moving over in a couple months. Probably around June."
"That's nice."
"Well, the thing is, Cassie, we need somebody at the inn. A—what did you call it, darling?"
"Chatelaine."
"Fancy word for manager, if you ask me. Somebody to look after the place," Rafe explained. "And the guests, once we've got them. Somebody who can cook breakfast, manage the housekeeping. Somebody who wouldn't mind living in and running things."
"Oh." Nerves settled, Cassie smiled. "You want me to ask around. We could put the word out at the diner."
"No, we've already got somebody in mind." Eagle-eyed, Rafe spotted the cookie jar and helped himself. "We want someone we know, someone we trust." He paused to chug down the full glass of lemonade Cassie handed him. "So how about it?"
"How about it?" she repeated.
"That's not the way you offer someone a position, Rafe," Regan said with a sigh. "Cassie, we'd like you to move in and manage the inn for us. We just can't do it, between my shop and Rafe's work."
"You want me?" If she'd still been holding the glass, it would have been smashed on the floor. "I don't know anything about managing an inn. You'd have to have experience, and—"
"You manage a house and two kids," Rafe pointed out. "You cook almost as good as I do. You know how to handle all the customers at Ed's, run the kitchen there when you have to. And you have a soothing personality. Those are qualifications in my book."
"But—"
"You'll want to think about it." Regan's interruption was smooth as silk. "I know it's a big favor, Cas-sie, and you've worked at Ed's so long that it would be a big decision to switch jobs. But Rafe's fixing up a nice apartment on the third floor—with its own kitchen—that would be part of the salary. You'd have privacy. Maybe you and the kids could come by and take a look. We'd really appreciate it."
An apartment, privacy. No rent payment. That beautiful house on the hill. A manager. It all whirled in Cassie's head like blurred and colorful dreams.
"I'd like to help, but-"
"Great." Flashing a grin at his wife, Rafe patted Cassie's shoulder. "You just come give the place a once-over, and we'll talk about it some more."
"All right." Dazed, she shifted Emma on her hip. "I'll come by. I have to get along. I promised Connor and Bryan we'd have hot dogs on the grill."
"Go on and round them up," Savannah suggested. "I'll run and get Bryan's backpack."
She waited until Cassie was out the screen door. "You make a very good team," she murmured, looking at Regan and Rafe. "And very good friends."
She was nearly at the steps when she saw Devin on her porch, talking to Cassie. Her back snapped straight. "Something I can do for you, Sheriff?"
Only mildly annoyed at the interruption, he looked through the screen. "No. I just walked over with Jared and Rafe. You've done a nice job on the bank."
"Thanks."
When Emma held out her precious cookie to share, Savannah's brow furrowed. She watched Devin lean forward, take a small bite.
"You taste better," he announced, and made Emma giggle by nuzzling the gentle curve of her neck.
"You can hold me," she told him, tossing out her arms and wrapping them around his neck.
"Thank you, ma'am." He took her, brushing his cheek over her hair before settling her on his hip. As Cassie hurried away to call the boys, Devin looked back through the screen, Emma in his arms. "Some women like me."
Eyes cool, Savannah inclined her head. "So it seems."
"I'm not packing heat, Ms. Morningstar." That lethal MacKade grin flashed, all power and charm. "Just taking in a spring evening with my best girl."
"You're wearing a badge," Savannah pointed out.
"Habit. I've got no problem with you."
"I'm going to keep it that way." She looked across her yard to where Jared was hitting pop-ups for the boys.
"I've got no problem with that," Devin said quietly, and drew her gaze back to his.
"All right." She nodded and headed up to get her son's overnight bag.
Holding Emma, Devin stepped off the porch. He managed to draw Cassie into a brief conversation and charmed one hesitant smile out of her before he had to pass Emma back and watch her and the kids head for their car.
She wasn't quite so thin as she'd been those last months before he was finally able to collar Joe, Devin thought. Though she still looked as though one careless shout would topple her. A man had to be careful with her. The shadows had faded from under her eyes, but the eyes were still haunted.
He worried about her, and wondered. When the car was gone, he tucked his thoughts away and strolled over to Jared. "Your lady doesn't like me."
Jared gave the bat a last swing. "She doesn't like your badge."
"Like I said—she doesn't like me."
Jared looked toward the porch, where Savannah stood watching them, and felt his heart beat off rhythm. "She's had a rough road."
"I don't doubt it." He'd seen a few miles of it in her eyes. "She what you want, bro?"
"Looks that way."
"Well, then." Devin rubbed his chin in his thoughtful way, still holding Savannah's cool gaze. It would take a hell of a lot more than a shout to topple that one, he mused. "I have to say your taste in women has improved mightily since your timely divorce."
Surprised, Jared leaned on the bat. "I thought you liked Barbara."
Devin snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, right."
"You never said different."
"You never asked me." Devin picked up the ball from the grass, tossed it high, made a one handed catch that would have had Bryan cheering. "I like this one."
Bemused, Jared shook his head. "You just said you didn't."
"I said she didn't like me." Devin's grin was sly and slow. "I find that very attractive in a woman."
Jared had him in a headlock in a blink. Experienced in such matters, Devin overbalanced and sent them both rumbling to the ground.
With the faintest of frowns, Savannah watched them wrestle—much as Bryan and Connor were prone to do. Behind her, Rafe and Regan stepped out of the house.
"Well, hell, they got started without me."
"We're going." Regan took a firm grip on Rafe's arm. "You promised to take me to dinner."
"But, darling..."
"You can fight with them tomorrow. Bye, Savannah."
"Mm-hmm..."
At Rafe's shout, Devin rolled aside and rose, narrowly avoiding the hand that snaked out to trip him. After brushing off his jeans, he jogged down to join Rafe and Regan. He sent one quick salute to Savannah and disappeared into the woods.
"What was that?"
A bit winded, Jared climbed onto the porch. He winced a little and rubbed his ribs. "He got me a couple of good ones."
"Were you playing or fighting?"
"What's the difference?"
She had to laugh. "What were you playing and or fighting about?"
"You. Got anything cold?"
"Me?" She was in the house behind him like a shot. "What do you mean?"
"He said..." Jared let the words trail off, sighed lustily over the icy beer he'd snagged from the refrigerator, popped it open, then drank deeply. "He said he found you attractive, so I had to pound on him a little."
"Your brother, Sheriff MacKade, finds me attractive."
"Yeah." He leaned over th
e sink to splash cold water on his face. "He likes you."
"He likes me," Savannah repeated, baffled. "Why?"
"Partly because you don't like him. Dev can be perverse. Partly because I do, and he's loyal." He rubbed his dripping face with a dish towel. "And partly because he's got good instincts and a fair mind."
"Are you trying to make me ashamed?"
"No, I'm telling you about my brother. Rafe's cocky and driven. Shane's good-hearted and laid-back. Devin's fair." Thoughtfully, he laid the towel aside. "I guess it bothers me that you can't see that."
"Old habits die hard." But she could see it, had seen it. "He was sweet with Emma."
Satisfied that he'd found a chink, he grinned. "We've all got a way with the ladies."
"So I've noticed." She took the beer from him and helped herself. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
"I thought you'd like to go out."
"No." She smiled at the yellow tulips on the table beside him. "I'd like to stay in."
Big Mae, who had run the Tilt-a-Wheel in the carnival where Savannah had worked one educational season, had always said if she ever found a man who could cook and who didn't turn her stomach at the breakfast table, she would give up the high life and settle down.
After being treated to Jared MacKade's Cajun chicken and rice, Savannah thought Big Mae had had a very valid point. She sipped the wine Jared had gotten into the habit of tucking into her refrigerator and studied him over the candles on her dining room table.
"Where'd you learn to cook?"
"At my sainted mother's knee." He grinned. "She made us all learn. And, as she had the most accurate and swift wooden spoon in the county, we learned good."
"Close family."
"Yeah. We were lucky that way. My parents made it easy—natural I guess is a better word. Growing up on a farm, everybody has to pull their weight, depend on each other." His eyes changed, and looked, Savannah thought, somewhere else. "I still miss them."
A little jab of envy reminded her that she hadn't known either of her parents well enough to miss. "They did a good job with you. With all of you."
"Some people in town would have said differently once. Some still would." The smile was back in his eyes. "We got our reps the old-fashioned way—we earned them."
"Oh, I've been hearing stories about those bad MacKade brothers." Smiling over the thought, she rested her chin on her fist. '"Swaggering around town' is how Mrs. Metz puts it."
"She would." His smile changed, edged toward the arrogant. "She's crazy about us."
"I thought as much. I was getting the car filled the other day at the Gas and Go when she pulled into the station and got Sharilyn out there by the pumps to reminisce." And, Savannah remembered, to try to pump out a little gossip.
"Oh." Jared cleared his throat. "Sharilyn, huh?"
"Who has some very fond memories of you... and a 1964 Dodge."
To his credit, he didn't wince. "Hell of a car. How's old Sharilyn doing?"
"Oh, she's fine and dandy. Says, 'Hey.'" Amused, she switched gears. "So, which one of you bad MacKade brothers was it who stuffed the potato in the tail pipe of the sheriff's cruiser?"
Jared ran his tongue around his teeth. "Rafe got blamed for it." He lifted his wine. "But I did it. We always figured whatever one of us did, all of us did, so whoever took the heat deserved it."
"Very democratic." She rose to put the dishes in the sink. "I could have used a few siblings on the rodeo circuit. There was never anyone to pass the blame to."
"Your father was rough on you."
"No, not really. He was..." How could she describe Jim Morningstar? "Larger than life, and hard as a brick. He liked a good horse and a bottle of cheap whiskey. He could handle the first, but he didn't do quite so well with the second. He didn't know what to do with me, so he did his best. It just wasn't good enough for either of us."
She leaned back when Jared's hands came to her shoulders as he asked, "Did you learn to ride?"
"So early I don't even remember learning. Could rope and tie a calf, too. Pulled in a few prizes." She laughed and turned to set her hands comfortably on his hips. "Honey, I learned to do all kinds of wild, wicked things while you were busy steaming up the windows of a '64 Dodge and sticking potatoes in tail pipes."
"Oh, yeah?" He tipped up her chin so they were eye-to-eye.
"Oh, yeah. I could take a horse that looked like two miles of bad road and groom him up till he shined. I liked the ones with temper," she drawled, rubbing her hands up his sides, over his hips. "The ones with fire in their eyes and just a little mean in the heart. I'd make him come to me. Right to me. Then I'd ride him." Eyes open, she scraped her teeth over his bottom lip. "I'd ride him hard and long. And when I was done, he'd be spoiled for anybody else."
His blood went instantly to boil. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Somebody's got to." Taking a good, firm grip, she fused her mouth to his until the heat burning through her engulfed him like a flash fire.
His hands gripped like vises on the edge of the sink behind her, his body pressing against hers. And then she was moving against him, sliding, rocking, turning him to iron while her mouth took big, hungry gulps.
"Jared, touch me." Desperate, she yanked his hand free, closed it over her breast, where her heart was pounding like steel on an anvil. "Touch me. Touch me," she repeated, even as his hands streaked under her shirt and filled with her.
She was like some dark, forbidden dream, warm limbs straining against him, sliding, tight denim against tight denim, in painful friction. The flesh in his greedy hands was firm and full and hot. He pressed his mouth to her throat. He could have sunk his teeth into it, such was his sudden, outrageous hunger.
He knew that if he didn't have her now, tonight, he'd be insane by morning.
When he pulled back, dizzy with appetite, she moaned. "For God's sake, are you trying to make me crazy?"
He stared, fighting for his breath as she fought for hers. Though his hands were at his sides now, he could feel her on his fingertips.
"That was the first part of the plan," he said as he took a deep gulp of air, then added, "I'm finished with the first part."
"Hallelujah."
He could almost have laughed. "Bryan's staying at Connor's?"
"Yes." Impatient, edgy, she grabbed his hands. ''Come upstairs.''
"No."
Her smile was slow and willing. "All right." But when she lifted her arms, happy to take him where they were, he caught her hands.
"No."
"Jared, don't make me hurt you."
He could laugh. "I'm hoping you will. Get a blanket."
"A blanket?"
"I want you in the woods." He turned her hand over in his, caught her wrist in his teeth. "I've always wanted you in the woods."
"I'll get a blanket," she managed, and nearly tripped over her own feet in her rush.
She had herself under control again as they walked together under the arching canopy of trees tender with spring, under the dazzle of stars and the glow of a three-quarter moon. She'd meant to seduce him tonight, to draw him slowly, cleverly in. To surprise him.
She hadn't meant to eat him alive.
Then he stopped where the ground was soft and flipped the blanket down. And she was very much afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself.
"Tell me something, Lawyer MacKade."
He looked over the blanket at her where she stood, hip shot out, chin angled, eyes full of power and sex. He'd have chewed through glass to get to her. "What's that?"
"Is your health insurance up-to-date?"
His teeth flashed white. "You don't scare me."
"Honey, you won't be able to get your tongue around your own name when I'm finished with you."
She lunged, agile as a trick pony, her legs wrapped around his waist, her hands fisted in his hair. He swung her around once, so that his body would cushion hers when they fell laughing to the blanket.
It knocked the breath out of h
im, and gave her first advantage.
Her hands were everywhere at once, tugging the shirt over his head, running down his chest to yank at the snap of his jeans. And, to his giddy amazement, her mouth was chasing after them.
"Hold it." In self-defense, he rolled on top of her. "Keep that up, and this'll last about twenty seconds." He kept her pinned until his libido could remember it wasn't sixteen anymore. "I've been saving up for you, Savannah." He lowered his head, and the kiss was staggeringly deep.
The sound she made was a feral purr that shuddered into his mouth and out the soles of his feet. While his lips devoured hers, he gave his hands the pleasure of learning that long, lush body.
Firm and smooth, it moved under his touch sinuously, inviting him to linger. She smelled like the woods—dark, mysterious, full of secrets and hidden pleasures. The taste of that mouth feeding avidly on his was full of spice and heat.
Her hands were working on his back, tensing his muscles, nails nipping into his flesh to urge him to press harder, grip tighter. To take, and take, and take. Her breath came in low, throaty moans so erotic he knew he would hear them again in his sleep.
When he reared back, she arched and crossed her arms over her body. With her eyes on his face, she pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it aside.
She saw the fresh, wild desire bolt into his eyes, and reveled in it. In her youth, her body had been a curse—some had said her downfall. But now, watching the man she loved look at her for the first time, it filled her with a sense of soaring pride.
"It should be illegal." His voice was hoarse and thick. "Looking like you."
He didn't touch her, not yet. Fascinated, he un-snapped her jeans, drew them down and away. His oath was reverent. Then his hands skimmed up, from ankle to knee, to thigh and hip, over the muscled stomach that quivered unexpectedly.
"You're the most terrifyingly beautiful woman I've ever seen."
Her smile was slow, confident. She sat up, hooked an arm around his neck and brought his ready mouth to hers. Her murmur was approving as he explored her, inch by slow, delicious inch. She thought he had wonderful hands, firm, and just rough enough. Her eyes fluttered closed, dreamily, when he used his . thumb to torment the tip of her breast.
She could wallow in the lovely feel of flesh sliding on flesh, of the light breeze whispering, the hot blanket beneath. There were owls hooting in the trees, ghosts walking in the air.