TexasKnightsBundle

by Unknown

  He looked at the window. “There’s a swimming pool,” he said quietly, casting a worried glance at Jonah.

  “Yes, and you’ll get to go in it sometime, when one of us is with you,” she said. “Right now, let’s look around the house so we’ll know where things are.”

  He stayed close by her side as they went through a formal living room, and Jonah watched him, thinking he was too quiet for a little boy and wondering if his shyness was because of his new father’s presence.

  The moment Kate stepped inside the living room, she gasped. “Look at this, Jonah! That looks like a marble Chippendale chimney piece. My word, I wonder where he got this and what it cost!” she exclaimed, crossing the room to look at the ornate mantel.

  “You’d know more about that than I do,” Jonah remarked dryly, watching her hips sway, desire still burning in him in spite of all his efforts to fight it.

  “What a magnificent armoire!” she exclaimed. She moved around the room, gushing over the furniture, while Jonah smoldered and watched her, his emotions warring. Anger and desire were tearing him apart. He didn’t want to feel either one, but he was consumed by both. Thinner, more pale, Kate still was the most beautiful woman he had ever known.

  “Dammit,” he said softly under his breath. “Let’s look at the rest, Kate.”

  She entered the dining room, which she found to be even more spectacular than the kitchen and family room. It was an immense space with another beamed ceiling, and fancy iron chandeliers that hung above a gleaming, dark wood table that could easily seat two dozen people.

  Another mammoth stone fireplace filled one wall and crystal pieces sparkled in a tall breakfront on a credenza.

  “That man didn’t have any relatives?” she asked, turning and catching Jonah looking at her in a manner that set her pulse fluttering again. Instantly, he walked away from her.

  “His wife had a family, but her parents are in rehabilitation and not fit guardians. They are taken care of financially for their lifetimes. The property and the baby went to the three of us,” Jonah replied solemnly.

  He motioned to her. “Down this way,” he said, “is a media room, a music room, a games room, a sunroom, a library. A portico connects the house to a cabana. In the cabana is a workout room.”

  “Jonah, this house is going to take a fortune to maintain!” she exclaimed. “We ought to pay you to live here.”

  “There’s no need to, Kate. I can manage it,” he said. “This is a highly profitable ranch.”

  “You’re so fortunate and—” When she bit off her words, he turned to look at her, his brows arched in curiosity.

  “And what?”

  “You deserved to get this for risking your life to save his. It’s ironic that you saved him and then he came home and something happened to him.”

  “John and Dina drowned off the coast of Scotland in a boating accident. It was their first trip on their own after their daughter’s birth and she was too small. The nanny looked after her.”

  “They left the baby behind? That’s awful,” Kate exclaimed, and then caught Jonah staring at her with such anger that she bit her lip and turned away. He was probably thinking that it wasn’t as awful as what she had done, because they’d been killed accidentally, while she had kept Henry from him deliberately.

  They looked at the house, selected bedrooms, and then Jonah told Henry he would take him to look at the barn and livestock. Before they left her, Jonah turned to Kate. “Give me your car keys and I’ll have someone fetch your vehicle.”

  “It’s in the drugstore parking lot, one with North Carolina plates,” she said, giving him a description of her eleven-year-old car while she dug in her purse and pulled out keys, handing them to Jonah. When she did, their hands brushed—a slight contact, yet the touch was electric. He looked up into her eyes, and in that moment raw desire burned between them.

  As she jerked her hand away, he turned abruptly. “Let’s go, Henry,” he said. Jonah glanced back at Kate. “I’ll put some steaks out to thaw. The kitchen and pantry looked fully stocked.”

  “Fine,” she answered breathlessly, stunned by the intense reaction she was having after all these years, when she’d thought she had gotten over being responsive to him. “We had a big lunch and a late one,” she added. “Neither Henry nor I will be hungry for a while.”

  “When I go home tomorrow to get my things, I want you and Henry to come with me so my folks and Henry can meet each other. I’ll get the plane tickets and then we’ll drive back here.”

  She nodded, knowing she should let them meet, but her first thought was the long drive meant hours in the car with Jonah. She saw in her future that they would be thrown together constantly, and it was going to be a rocky time, if not impossible.

  As father and son left the house, she watched them. It was an incredible turn of events in their lives, and she was still dazed by the sudden upheaval in her plans.

  She turned back to the bedroom she had hastily chosen because it was next to a child’s room, one done in primary colors. She was thankful it wasn’t all in pink, since Jonah had told her the Frateses’ baby was a girl.

  Anywhere under the same roof would be impossible to be far enough away from Jonah’s room to insulate her heart. As it was, his room was next to hers. He had a huge master bedroom that ran the length of the house on the side overlooking the pool and terrace. Each bedroom had its own balcony.

  She looked at the skylighted room she had chosen and realized it was larger than any bedroom she had had before. It held a double bed that had a massive carved headboard she guessed was antique. A dresser and chest of drawers matched the bed, and a tall armoire stood on one side of the room. The green-and-white decor was cheerful in the afternoon sunlight spilling through wide windows. She was surrounded with luxury that she would have relished and enjoyed tremendously if it hadn’t included living with Jonah. Life with him would keep her constantly on edge.

  Two hours later Henry returned, chattering, dusty and with sparkling eyes. Her car had been brought to the ranch and her things carried in by men who now worked for Jonah. She’d met them as they brought her suitcases up the stairs, then helped Jonah take a crib out of the nursery and put in a bed for Henry.

  While the men worked, Kate ran a bath for her son and soon had him bathed and changed into his blue pajamas. She had found the pantry was fully stocked, as Jonah had promised, and she’d fixed an early supper for Henry, knowing he would be exhausted from the long day. While she didn’t want to eat alone with Jonah, Henry couldn’t last.

  When they finished assembling the bed and she’d put clean sheets on it, she let Henry pick out two books from those that were unpacked.

  “Can I read to him tonight?” Jonah asked from the doorway, and she turned to find him casually leaning against the jamb. How long had he been standing there watching her? she wondered.

  “Yes. I’ll come tuck you in, Henry,” she said, leaving the room. At the doorway she looked back to see Jonah sitting in the rocking chair with Henry on his lap. The little boy settled in his father’s arms, and Kate suffered another pang for keeping the two separated. How long now would she have to live with guilt?

  She hurried to her room to unpack some fresh clothes and shower.

  Everything about Jonah was appealing, but she needed to constantly guard her heart and remember that this quiet country living would never last for him. To be happy Jonah had to be saving someone or handling some dangerous mission for his country. Getting out of Special Forces wouldn’t matter.

  She changed into cutoffs and a blue T-shirt, twisting her hair up on her head in a butterfly clip and going back to see if they had finished reading.

  As he read and rocked, Henry looked up at Jonah. “You’re my daddy? You’re going to stay? You’re not going to leave us?”

  “No, Henry, I’m not going to leave you.”

  “Daddy,” Henry said, running his tiny fingers along Jonah’s jaw. Jonah’s heart turned over. “I’m glad you’r
e here.”

  “I’m glad, too, Henry,” he said in a husky voice as a rush of feeling choked him. He tightened his arms slightly around his son and continued reading, hoping Henry didn’t notice that he was getting emotional.

  In minutes the boy was asleep. Jonah studied him, touching strands of his hair lightly, marveling in the child’s perfection. Filled with love and awe, Jonah picked up Henry, carrying him to the new bed and putting him down gently.

  Then he stood beside the bed. Jonah was fascinated with every facet of Henry, noticing his son’s long lashes, his smooth brown skin, his small hands. He leaned down to brush a kiss on Henry’s forehead.

  “I love you, Henry, and will thank God every day that I found you,” he whispered. He straightened and turned to discover Kate only yards away behind him, standing immobile with sadness in her eyes. She turned abruptly and left the room ahead of him.

  When he found her waiting at the foot of the stairs, his anger soared, now that Henry was no longer around to witness his wrath. His gaze raked over her.

  She was in cutoffs and she looked prettier than ever. There was something sultry and earthy about Kate, and the qualities had intensified in the last few years. Strands of her hair fell loose from the clip that held it pinned on her head. She always looked slightly thrown together, creating a casual, sultry air that had not changed with time.

  When they entered the kitchen, she crossed the room. “What can I do to help with dinner?” she asked.

  “I’ll grill the steaks, and while we eat, I want you to tell me about Henry. Do you have a baby book for him?”

  “Yes, I do,” she answered.

  “Fine,” Jonah replied as he got greens for salad from the refrigerator. “I’ll take care of the cooking. You go unpack his baby book so I can see it.”

  “Jonah, if we’re tense and angry, he’s going to pick up on it soon,” Kate said. “You can’t pretend to be friendly with me one minute and then seethe with anger the next.”

  “I figure the anger will go soon, because he’s here in my life now, and I’m damn thankful for that. Just overlook the anger, or live with it the way I lived with yours when we were married.”

  She caught her breath and turned and left the room.

  He swore silently and watched her walk away, mentally stripping away the cutoffs, looking at her long, bare legs and wanting her in spite of all she had done. He clamped his teeth so tightly they hurt, then turned to get a cold beer and start dinner.

  Before they sat down to eat thick, juicy steaks on the patio, Jonah switched on the intercom.

  “I want the device on,” Kate said, “but Henry sleeps like someone who has lost consciousness. He’s out until eight o’clock in the morning. No nightmares or wanting a drink or wanting me in the middle of the night.”

  “Well, if the unusual should happen, we’ll hear him. Now tell me about him—everything, Kate.”

  She talked while they ate their steaks, a tossed salad and potatoes baked in a microwave oven. A cool breeze blew across the terrace, and she gazed over the turquoise swimming pool. Beyond the well-tended yard was a grand view of rolling hills, green pastures and, in the distance, a silvery pond. The Long Bar Ranch was a paradise—or could be, she thought, and she knew that when the time came, it was going to be difficult to move Henry away from here. She didn’t want to think about that now. For the moment, they were here, and when she wasn’t tied in knots by Jonah, she could enjoy the ranch, which was going to be so wonderful for Henry.

  After dinner, at dusk, they cleared the table and then she spread out the baby book and scrapbooks. Jonah pulled his chair up beside her there.

  Her skin tingled all over with awareness of him—his arm brushing against her, his fingers touching hers as they began to look, starting with pictures of Henry at the hospital where he had been born.

  “Look at the thick black hair on him even as a baby!” Jonah exclaimed, staring at each picture with a joy that saddened her and heightened her guilt.

  “Well, you and I both have thick hair,” Kate said, and Jonah looked at her locks, picking up a handful in his grasp.

  “Yes, you do,” he agreed.

  They sat side by side, his hand in her hair now and his face only inches away. His fingers had brushed her nape and his fist rested against her head, slight touches that were like dynamite near the flames of impossible desire. His dark eyes were momentarily free of anger and the only emotion smoldering in their depths was longing.

  Once again her gaze locked with his. She couldn’t move away, look away or even draw a breath.

  While her heart thudded, she licked her dry lips. Why did he have this effect on her? Why had he always been so irresistible? Right now, in spite of all that was between them, she wanted to close that small distance between them and kiss him. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and kiss her back. At the same time, she didn’t want his kisses and never wanted to walk into his arms again, because it could only lead one direction—to more hurt than she had known before.

  “Dammit, Kate,” he whispered.

  “I told you we couldn’t live here together, Jonah! You were warned and you didn’t pay any attention. Neither one of us wants to feel what we do,” she said, unable to tear her eyes from his.

  She started to get up to walk away from him. He did the same and they bumped against each other, shoulder to shoulder, hip against hip. He reached to steady her and then they looked into each other’s eyes once more.

  This time desire was an explosion between them, and longing was palpable. His dark eyes consumed her, and she could only tremble with need.

  “Kate,” he said, almost growling her name as he reached to pull her into his arms.

  The most natural thing to happen, yet the most dangerous.

  With all her being, she wanted to resist, to push against him, to race away, to say no. She preferred any of a hundred possible responses over the one she couldn’t control.

  Her hands flew up and she pushed against a rock-solid chest while she whispered, “No, Jonah! No, no—”

  His gaze nailed her, stopping her words, immobilizing her. Searing and white-hot, a blatant desire was burning in his dark eyes like fires against an inky sky.

  She knew he was going to kiss her because his intentions were telegraphed in that look. And knowing it was enough to send her pulse galloping.

  His head came down and his mouth covered hers in a hard kiss. His tongue stroked over hers, tormenting, tasting, exploring her mouth.

  She thought she would faint. All at once it was paradise and hell. Heat kindled low inside her and spread. Desire made her shake, while her pulse roared in her ears, deafening her as his mouth claimed possession, an insistent kiss that she could no more resist than she could stop breathing.

  Time was gone and the years fell away. She was back in Jonah’s arms, kissing him. It had been five long years since they had been together. Five years of unfulfilled dreams, haunting memories, aching, empty hours. It had been so terribly long, and no one had ever kissed her the way Jonah did. Never in her life had kisses been this earthshaking, making her world spin so crazily she felt as if she would fly off into outer space.

  His strong arms wrapped around her and he pulled her tightly to him. Her softness pressed against his hard length and solid muscles. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe and kissed him hungrily.

  The shocks of the day were transformed into a longing and passion hot enough to consume them both. This wasn’t what she wanted, and at the same time it was all she wanted. How could Jonah be even more exciting now than before?

  His kiss conjured up a recollection of fiery lovemaking, the reawakening of a storm of passion.

  This was something that shouldn’t happen, yet it was happening, and she couldn’t stop it. She wanted to keep on kissing him all night long. She had dreamed of his kisses, tried to forget them, fantasized about them, and now she was drowning in them. One of his hands was tightly knotted in her hair. The o
ther arm was around her waist. Kate pressed closer still….

  How long they stood and kissed, she never knew, for time was calculated in heartbeats and unbridled desire. Reason called dimly and was unheeded until she realized where she was headed—back into marriage with him. She didn’t want that commitment, because her heart couldn’t deal with the turmoil of being involved with him again.

  When she pushed against Jonah, he stopped instantly, releasing her. He was breathing hard, unevenly, and Kate thought she saw a flash of anger in his enigmatic dark eyes.

  As they stared at each other, battling emotions racked her, among them remorse and desire.

  “That won’t happen again, Kate,” Jonah said.

  “I could say that to you. I don’t think I was the one who insisted we stay in the same house.”

  “We’ll work it out. I’ll look at the pictures on my own,” he said, scooping up the baby album and scrapbooks and heading for the house.

  She watched him go, his long legs covering the ground in swift strides. Suddenly she ached with need, wanting him more than she ever had before in her life. He was going to be a great father and love his son. He was a rancher now and might settle down. He must have enough money to be comfortable here, and must somehow know the ranch would sustain itself. Yet she knew Jonah through and through, and his life wouldn’t be a settle-on-the-ranch-and-live-happily-ever-after story.

  “I’m not going to love you again,” she said softly, touching her tingling lips with her fingertips and wondering if there had ever been a time since the day they’d met when she hadn’t been in love with Jonah.

  And now, even if she wanted to let down her guard and go ahead and love the man, she had seen that spark of fury in his eyes when he had gathered up her scrapbooks and left.

  She had committed an unforgivable sin in hiding the knowledge of his son from him, and the accusations in his fiery gaze still singed her.

  There would be no commitment from him, no turning back and forgetting their history. She suspected Jonah wouldn’t forgive her for years.

  She moved restlessly around the terrace, walking to the pool’s edge and looking at the clear, calm water.