A Touch of Passion (boxed set romance bundle)

by Uvi Poznansky

  “I know this will be hard for you to believe, but I never knew I’d made out with you, Annie. I’d had so much to drink. That’s no excuse, I know. And it kills me to think that I took advantage of a young girl, but—”

  She interrupted. “No! Clint! I knew you’d think that, but it’s not true. You were drunk. I just I never knew how drunk. You see, when I went to try and talk you into coming inside, so Jake wouldn’t find you in the car, you made total sense. Other than you’d fallen asleep—”

  “You mean passed out.”

  “I didn’t know that. I just thought, since Marty brought you home, you were over the limit and must have dropped off while he drove. When I woke you up, you acted normal.”

  “Normal? I made you have sex with me.”

  “You did not!” She yanked her hand from his and slid closer to her window. “Mon Dieu! No one has ever made me do anything I didn’t want to do, and you know that to be true. We made love, Clint. We never had sex!”

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  With a twist of the wheel, Clint braked hard and pulled the SUV into a turnoff on the side of the road.

  “Baby, I’m sorry.” He turned her way, entreating her to forgive him. “I guess it’s hard for me to believe you had feelings for me when I was such a jerk.” He stroked his hand down her arm, in the same gentle way he’d petted his mother’s leg the night before. The loveliness of his caress destroyed every bit of her anger.

  “No, it’s me who should apologize, Clint. You know I had a crush on you back then. You were such a tease, and you treated me like no one else ever had before. I loved it. So, when I had the chance to be with you, well…you know what happened.”

  “Come here, where I can hold you.” First he moved his seat back, and, next he leaned over and scooped her in his arms, bringing her to his side of the vehicle and holding her on his knee. She helped make the new seating arrangements work, and soon cuddled close while he wrapped his big arms around her tightly. Then he whispered. “That’s just it. I don’t know what happened. I have a foggy kind of memory where I made love to an angel, and she cast a spell on me. After that, I was no good for any other woman. Hell, the reason I struggled so hard to make it work with Cathy was because I thought she’d been the girl with me that night. In my soused brain, it just didn’t make sense for it to be anyone else. So, every time I was with her, I tried to recreate the enchantment, and, of course, it never happened.”

  “Funny you should say that...it never worked for me either. I gave up trying after a while. Made Max, my father and my career a focus; and spent very little time with men.”

  Clint grunted, but didn’t ask the obvious. Her respect for him climbed another notch. “I’ve been wondering about one thing. When Ma wrote to you about our divorce, why didn’t you come back then?”

  “Your mother never did write about the divorce. She later told me she respected your privacy and didn’t feel it was her place. I only found out about the situation, here in Texas, when Rose visited me in Paris. When she asked me to come back and help her through these next few months.”

  “Thank you, Lord, for helping her decide to make that trip!” Clint looked upwards, his eyes like a choirboy’s, and his silliness made her laugh. Not for long though, since his lips cut off her air and his tongue tantalized her to get involved.

  She squirmed, and instantly experienced his involuntary hardening to her moving. Pleasure flooded when she realized she had so much power over this man. Never having dated a lot meant her experience with the opposite sex had been limited. Now this intoxicating awareness went a long way to overriding her reserve.

  The remembered taste of him had stayed with her. So had the smell of the special brand of spicy soap he’d always used. It worked together to put her back in time. She’d been this close to him before, sitting on his knee while his lips created a paradise where she became lost.

  His tongue swept the inside of her mouth and woke her body to all kinds of sensations. Some remembered, some new and all erotic. He pulled away, and gathered her face between his large palms. “You’re trembling? Am I moving too fast?”

  She looked into his eyes and saw tenderness mixed with hunger. Melting into a puddle of passion, loving how soft his eyes were; she searched his expression a few seconds longer and saw confusion begin to appear. “It’s just that I’ve imagined you looking at me like this for so long, I can’t help wanting to prolong the moment.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? That you have feelings for me?”

  Anne saw the apprehension he couldn’t hide and a flood of wonder left her breathless. He hadn’t tried to hide his need; in fact he’d laid it open for her to read. His vulnerability left her speechless.

  “Yes, of course I do. You’ve ruined me for any other man, Clint Walsh—”

  His searching lips cut off her spiel, and she let herself get absorbed in the beauty of their desire. Breathing quickened for both as their insatiable need took over. His hands wandered over her body, up and under her blouse to cradle her breast. Her uncontrollable body movements created impossible conditions for him, and he finally called a halt by dragging her away, his harsh breath an indication of how close he was to the edge. “Stop! No more! Unless you want me to drag you into the back seat and finish what we’ve started; we have to stop now.”

  “Mon Dieu. It won’t be the first time. You can’t mean to stop?”

  Anne watched as Clint checked their surroundings and seemed satisfied. Then he lifted and helped her over to the back and followed. In seconds, they were in the full rear seat, together and entwined. Clint mumbled, “I think it was easier when we were younger.”

  “We don’t have to if—”

  His growl of impatience made her giggle. “Come ‘ere, you little tease. We’ll manage.” His devastating kiss stopped her mischievousness, and she thrilled to the rampaging sensations of love and lust, wanting only to give and then give some more.

  Their kisses, now out of control, led to clothes being discarded. Caresses they both contributed built such a storm that soon he was preparing her for his invasion. His strokes had her writhing, and her inviting wetness drew moans of pleasure from him. Once joined, they rode their crests together, shuddering, plunging, quivering, drawing from each other the beauty of ecstasy. Both reached the pinnacles of pleasure and clung until their breathing slowed.

  Finally, he sat up and she followed, straddling him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Holding his face pressed against her naked chest, she whispered. “Like the last time, only better.”

  He sighed and his warm moist breath tickled her skin. He nuzzled into her and she sensed that he was exactly where he wanted to be.

  “You held me like this the last time,” he whispered.

  “Yes. You liked being held. In fact, you wouldn’t let me go until I made you.”

  “I remember. As drunk as I was, I was afraid if I let you go; I’d lose you.”

  They both thought about his words, and the heartache of the intervening years began to slither in, until she said, “No regrets. We can’t let them destroy us. We’ve found each other again, chéri. And we have our lives ahead of us.”

  “You’re right, darlin’.” He kissed her breasts gently, making sweet love to what he hadn’t been near for so long. And then he laid his head against the soft mounds and sighed. “Baby, I’m thinking we need to get us a motor home. Hell, if we’re gonna continue making love in a vehicle, this guy needs something a bit more accommodating.”

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Once dressed, they continued their drive into town. Holding her hand tightly in his, he winked at her when he saw her satisfied smile. Clint hadn’t felt this good in so long, he couldn’t remember the last time. In fact, he doubted he’d ever wanted to scream his thanks to heaven and dance while doing it.

  Because of the earlier events, pleasure had lessened his anger toward Pete Layton. Therefore, when they arrived at the pub, and he saw the younger man perched alone
on a bar stool guzzling a beer, he turned to Annie, dropped his arm from around her waist and smiled. “You wanna grab a table for us, sweetheart? I’ll be just a few minutes.”

  He liked that she checked his eyes and read his assurances without needing words. “Sure, I’ll order you a beer.” She sashayed over to the side where the booths were set up. He watched her hips swaying, stirring him, reminding him of their time together. Before he began panting, he pulled off his cowboy hat and fanned his face. From her custom-made, high-heeled leather boots, to her long golden tousled hair, she demonstrated class. His satisfied sigh drew Pete’s attention, and the man looked undecided. Stay or bolt?

  Clint helped the decision by moving in and taking the stool next to his. “All alone here, I see. Guess your buddies are in jail.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His words reminded Clint of how a kid might react when caught doing something wrong and trying to bluster his way out of the sticky situation.

  “Don’t mess with me, Pete. I’m that close to giving you over to the sheriff and wiping my hands of you. If it weren’t for Tara and the baby, I would. And don’t think I don’t have the proof to back up my words. Your boots are pretty distinctive with that stone imbedded in the heel. These photos I have would be enough to send you away for quite some time.” Clint held out his cell and showed the other man the pictures of his boot prints by the barn.

  Pete’s hard-ass act disappeared, and his hand began to shake, spilling the filled glass of draft. As soon as he recognized the giveaway, he clenched his fist and then banged it on the smooth wooden bar. “Whaddaya want from me, man? I needed the money. My kid got sick, and her medicine cost more than I had. After you fired me, no one else wanted to give me a chance. I was broke.”

  Clint felt shame wash over him and realized he’d done wrong by the kid. If he’d taken the time and trained him right, kicked his ass a few times and made him work harder, instead of taking the easy road and firing him; things might have worked out differently. Still…

  “Seems to me you got enough money to sit in here and swill down the booze.”

  “First time this week, I swear. I hoped I’d see Hank in here from Cedar Ranch, so I could ask him for work.” Truth rang in the Pete’s voice.

  “Okay! It’s lucky for you I’m feeling mighty fine tonight. I’ll make you a deal. You come back to the ranch tomorrow morning… early; be prepared to work hard, and I’ll give you another chance. No screwing up, a portion of your wages will be held back to pay for having my trailer repainted after your buddies made a mess of it, and we’ll see how things go.”

  Pete’s head swiveled so he could check if Clint was pulling his leg. When he saw the serious expression, and Clint’s hand held out, his shoulders dropped. A relieved sigh expelled his fear and he plunged his hand into the one waiting. “Man, you’ve got a deal. I promise this time to give you a good day’s work. Last time, the baby’s crying had kept us up night after night and sleeping was impossible. She’s over the colicky stage now, so, it won’t happen again.”

  Clint’s remorse re-ignited and made him uncomfortable. The poor kid had a problem with his baby and instead of him listening when Pete had tried to explain, he’d cut him off with his “there’s no excuse for laziness” bullshit and run him off the property. He slapped the boy’s back in a friendly way and answered, “This time, when you got a problem, you come to me and we’ll talk about it, alright?”

  “Thank you, Clint. Tara will be thanking you too. We sure need this break, and you won’t be sorry.” Pete pushed away from the counter and headed to the door, walking tall.

  Clint watched him and waved back when the boy turned at the entrance. Relieved their talk went so well, he joined Annie at their table.

  “What did you say to him, Clint? He looked quite happy when he left.”

  “Something I should have said a long time ago. I told him he had his job back, and this time if he had any problems; he was to come to me and we’d work it out.”

  Annie’s reaction to his words shocked him. Seeing her big blues fill worried the hell outta him, and before he knew it, he slithered around to her side and gathered her to him. “Honey, what did I say?”

  “You said exactly what you would have said when I lived here before. You had a big heart in those days and everyone loved you. It’s true I’ve seen the change since I got here, but I’ve always sensed the Clint I remembered is still hidden underneath all the bluster and hard attitude. I’m just so relieved I was right.”

  To stop from swearing, he clenched his teeth and felt the muscles in his face tighten. After a couple of deep breaths, playing for time so the feeble excuses couldn’t pour out, he responded, “I acted the way Jake trained me, instead of taking my own road. Guess since I was so unhappy, it came easy to treat others badly. I’m sorry now.”

  “You’ve changed, Clint. You’re seeing clearly again.”

  With his right arm cuddled around her shoulders, he reached into his pocket and retrieved the little velvet box that held his dreams for the future. “Darlin’ I know I have some way to go, but it would sure make the going a hell of a lot sweeter if you were by my side. Will you take this ol’ cowboy and make him the happiest man alive?”

  “Yes! Oh! Yes!” She kissed him. “Mon Dieu, yes—please!” She kissed him again, and then she leaned her forehead against his, stared into his eyes and grinned her delight.

  Clint laughed happily. “Go ahead and open it.” He watched as she lifted the top and loved her gasp of joy. “You like it.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Mais oui, of course. It’s fabulous.”

  He explained his idea about the diamonds, what they stood for, and was tickled when she nodded and kissed him again and again. “What a lovely notion, Clint. I’ll always treasure the ring and this night.”

  At that moment, a person slapped her hand down on the table and attracted their attention. “Well, ain’t this just the sweetest thang? My husband and his backseat whore.”

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “Shut your filthy mouth.” Clint spoke up before Annie could. Glass splinters cut sharp, but no more so than the tone in his harsh voice. Anne shuddered. She’d hate for him to speak to her like that.

  Cathy, on the other hand, didn’t miss a beat. “Now, now, baby. You mustn’t show your true colors to Annie-belle. She might run back to Paris like she did the last time.” Cathy, slouching, her long scarlet fingernails squeezing her hip, flipped her long hair over her shoulder and sneered. “It’s been a long time, Frenchie.”

  “Hey, Texas,” Anne chuckled with no humor whatsoever. “I’ve been fortunate. Guess everyone’s good luck has to change sooner or later.”

  Cathy didn’t get the slur at first, and when she did, her eyes narrowed. She switched her attention to Clint. “How come you sent your conniving lawyer after me, darlin’? Not man enough to come to me yourself?”

  “It’s a legal document for your signature, nothing more. I’d think you’d be happy to sign. Then you’d have no more responsibility to Debbie. I’d take it on gladly.”

  “We both know you already have.” Suddenly, she focused on Annie’s hand nestled in Clint’s. The diamonds, reflecting the light from the candle, twinkled gloriously. Their blazing beauty attracted the woman, and her eyes were glued while an avaricious expression wiped out her scorn.

  Anne knew there’d be an explosion, and she wasn’t disappointed.

  “I see congratulations are in order.” Sarcasm, thinly veiled, colored her bogus offer. “When’s the happy event?” Happy never sounded so much the opposite.

  Clint went to stand, and Anne held him back. Instead she slid to the edge of the seat, forcing Cathy to back up. “You’re jealously is showing, Cathy. Excuse me. I’m going to the ladies’ room.” She stood.

  Cathy straightened but didn’t back away. Her eyes surveyed Anne’s face, and Anne knew the minute she’d honed in on her bruised cheek and blackened eye. Lowering her head came too late.
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  “Well, hell, girl. Why would you want to marry a guy who smacks you around? It’s a good thing he never tried that bullshit with me.”

  Anne spoke before Clint lost it. “You know better, Cathy. Clint doesn’t hit women, no matter how badly they treat him. If he did, you’d be dead.”

  No sooner had the words left her mouth; Cathy’s hands were twisted in her hair, trying to pull her to the ground. In all her twenty-seven years, Anne had never been in a fight, but here she was in Texas and was having her second experience in less than forty-eight hours. Fear didn’t have time to surface with anger riding her hard. In the background, she heard Clint’s explosion, and other people’s exclamations, but her only focus was on trying to get away. Unfortunately, when a crazy-lady was determined to scratch one’s eyes out, it was difficult to protect against her determination. Shielding her face from nails that were trying to gouge became her sole aim. When Clint finally grabbed Cathy’s arms to hold them behind her and lift her off of Anne, she scrambled away and got to her feet.

  For a few seconds, Anne was consumed with thoughts of running away, with hiding—and crying her heart out. If her peripheral vision hadn’t shown the crowd of folks watching, waiting to see what she would do about the insult, she would have fled.

  Being held from her victim, Cathy’s temper worsened. Her lips, grotesque with fury, hissed cuss words that would make a comedian cringe.

  Being physically attacked was bad enough, but when this sorry excuse for a lady began calling her a whore and worse; payback took over the place of Anne’s dignity. The power behind her slap forced Cathy’s face to reel to her right. The sound of flesh against flesh rang in the now silent pub.