by Tina Leonard
Mason didn’t like that either. “It upset Valentine.”
“And she got over it. She was surprised, Mason, that’s all. Perfectly normal, don’t you think? Not worth writing a dramatic script over.”
“Mimi,” Mason said, “you’re annoying me.”
“Good. Someone needs to.”
The apple pie smelled heavenly, and that did nothing to improve his mood. The sheriff’s and Nanette’s dinners also smelled good. Mason frowned, his stomach rumbling. Helga, the ranch’s housekeeper, was a good cook, but sometime when he wasn’t looking, Mimi had developed a talent for delightful home cooking. He almost always could find a reason to perch in her kitchen, hoping to snag a snack.
He worked and he went there to see Mimi’s daughter Nanette and fill his belly. It was a good life, though there was still something missing.
“My family is a pain in my ass,” he said suddenly.
“And you really need to get over that, too,” Mimi said. “It’s nearly all over. They all have their own families. Then what will you gripe about?”
Mason scratched his head, wondering why he always felt so unsettled. “I’ll find something.”
“You know,” she said, putting a beer in front of him, “you weren’t always such a drag.”
Mason blinked. “Wasn’t I?”
“No. You used to be fun. We used to have wonderful adventures.”
His gaze flicked for the slightest instant to the blouse that stuck nicely to her body. Motherhood definitely agreed with her. “You dragged me into them.”
“You only lacked imagination.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” He drank his beer, realizing that somehow Mimi had coaxed him out of his dismay over Last’s newest familial additions. “Damn it, I never had time to have an imagination.”
“Well, now you do. You’ll have lots of time, and surely there is fertile ground residing inside that handsome head of yours.”
“Mimi, do you ever hear from Brian?” Mason asked suddenly, wondering how her ex-husband had ever let her go.
Her gaze separated from his. She turned to check something on the stove. “No. We’re on good terms, but we have no reason to talk to each other.”
“What about Nanette?” Mason asked. “I always thought Brian was a pretty good ol’ guy. It surprises me that he doesn’t want to see his daughter.”
Mimi shrugged but didn’t look at him. “Some men are better at fathering than others.”
“I guess.” Mason stood. “Thanks for the supper, Mimi.”
She didn’t meet his gaze. “You’re welcome.”
He realized he’d hurt her feelings, and that was the last thing he wanted to do to his childhood friend and confidante. Walking to her, he lifted her chin gently. “Sorry,” he said gruffly. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Mimi gazed up at him, her blue eyes sparkling with tears. His heart grew tight inside him. “I’m a jerk,” he said. “You were happy until I came here with my problems and my big mouth.”
Mimi nodded. “Yes, you are a jerk,” she said softly. “But…I still think you should run for sheriff.”
Smiling, he pulled away from her. “That’s my Mimi. Always looking for the next adventure.” He kissed her cheek lightly, tipped his hat and left the kitchen to go say goodbye to the sheriff and Nanette.
Mimi being Mimi, she really was the only woman who could make him feel as if he was still a cowboy who mattered.
“IT JUST CAUGHT ME by surprise is all,” Valentine said to Last as he came to her bakery, Baked Valentines, to drop off Annette. “I wasn’t expecting you to bring home a souvenir family. Esme seems perfectly lovely, though.”
“I wasn’t expecting it either. One moment I was in the air, hanging by some fabric and good luck, and the next thing I knew…”
“You were falling for a woman and her children.” Valentine smiled. “Sounds very romantic.”
“No,” Last said, “it’s not like that. I didn’t fall for her, and she certainly didn’t for me. It’s not romantic at all.”
Valentine looked at him as she put in a sheet of cookies. “Did Esme tell you she came by here after she applied at the school?”
Last frowned. “Applied at the school?”
Valentine hesitated. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be such a gossip.”
“No.” Last shook his head. “When did this happen?”
“A few days ago. She applied and was accepted, though she has training to do, of course. Then she brought the children here. I gave them a snack, and Esme and I had a long girl chat. It was fun.” Valentine shrugged. “There’s something about her that really is quite innocent and refreshing.”
“She doesn’t tell me anything,” Last said. “Why doesn’t she have a girl chat with me?”
“Because you’re not a girl?” Valentine said. “And maybe she’d like a bit of independence? Jefferson males can be quite claustrophobic with their…you know.”
“No, I don’t.” Last was growing more irritated by the moment. Why hadn’t Esme told him she’d applied for a job? Instead she’d stopped by to see the mother of his child.
“Well, their machismo,” Valentine said. “You brothers all have a healthy dose of it. Sometimes it’s romantic, sometimes it’s amusing—and sometimes it’s annoying.”
“I still think she should tell me things.” Last didn’t like this new private side of Esme. It made him feel less in control of… “We have no relationship,” he said slowly.
“I know,” Valentine said, surprised. “You told me.”
“I guess she doesn’t owe me anything.”
“No. Not even a daily accounting of her whereabouts.” Valentine shrugged. “I thought it was brave and admirable of her to go out in a town she knows nothing about and seek employment. It shows that she’s not looking for a Mrs. degree.”
Last tightened his lips. “I never thought she was taking advantage of me. And we both agreed in the beginning that we were totally wrong for each other. I was only trying to help her out.”
“Sure,” Valentine said, “and these cookies are all going to jump in the oven themselves. Get up off your duff and start putting some trays in ovens.”
He complied, glad at that moment for Valentine’s direction. “Mason thinks she’s got too much baggage for me.”
“No.” Valentine shook her head. “She has more life experience maybe. Why?” She looked at him, a twinkle in her eye. “I thought Esme was only someone you rescued.”
“Actually she rescued me from a sea lion,” Last said. “I really was out of my element in California.”
“So when do you leave on your African bungee tour?”
The idea was less appealing than it had been a few weeks ago. “I’m not sure.”
Valentine grinned as he burned his hand on an oven. “Last, you have a woman on your mind.”
He grunted, not about to agree.
“Anyway, I wouldn’t let anything Mason has to say about a woman influence you.” Valentine shook her head. “He doesn’t appear to be a romance expert, does he?”
“Hell, no. And I’m not looking for romance,” he insisted. “I was only commenting that Mason thought Esme had more experience than me.”
“Only in terms of maturity,” Valentine said, turning to peer into the oven. “But you’ve grown up a ton since I met you.”
Annoyed, Last stood. “Thanks for the advice. I’ll be by tomorrow to get Annette.”
“All right,” she said absently, not looking at him, her gaze still on the cookies. Last nodded, putting his hat on his head.
He needed to have a chat with Miss Esme, he decided. He would initiate this girl-chat session, and she would tell him everything she’d told Valentine.
Then maybe he wouldn’t have this unsettled feeling.
He wanted her to need him as much as he needed her.
“THE CHILDREN WONDERED why you didn’t come by today.” Esme smiled at Last, letting him in the front door. “You missed t
he small supper I fixed.”
“You’ve settled in quickly.” Last looked around the den. “This looks different.”
“We’re used to setup and takedown in the circus. We simply moved some things around to make it homier for us. The children and I like to play cards, and the sofa was too close to the TV.”
She gauged his mood to be somewhat down. “Sit,” she said. “The kids are in bed, but I’ll get you some of the dinner we ate.”
“No, thank you,” he said. “Let’s just sit here and you can tell me what you’ve been up to.”
“I actually feel like a glass of tea,” Esme said, suddenly nervous. His mood was so formal and almost stiff! “And I haven’t been up to much. Just applying for a job, and I stopped in to see Valentine. She’d invited us, you know, and so we went, because the children wanted a snack and they’d never been inside the back of a bakery—”
She stopped talking as he took the tea glass from her hand. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve been denying the truth for days, but I think I’m going to go crazy if I don’t kiss you.”
Then he did kiss her, and against her better judgment, Esme let him take her in his arms. He felt just as good as she remembered—better, even—and the fact was, she liked it when he kissed her.
He kissed her hard and fast, and in that instant Esme realized Last wanted her in the way she had never let another man want her. “Kiss me more,” she said.
“Are the children really asleep?” he asked against her neck.
“Completely tuckered out.”
He picked her up and carried her down the hall to her bedroom. Esme laid her head against his chest, feeling nervous and excited all at once.
“I was lying to myself. I didn’t come here for girl chat,” Last murmured, laying her on the bed. “I came here for something totally different.”
“What?” she asked, staring up at him as he looked down at her.
“I think I came here to learn who you really are,” he said.
Esme’s heart beat so hard she could feel it in her neck. “Just what you see,” she said.
“Then I want to see more.”
She reached out her arms to him. “Hurry,” she whispered. “You don’t want to miss the show no one’s ever seen.”
He locked the door, stripped off his clothes and boots, getting into bed. “You’re still dressed,” he said.
She pulled her dress over her head. “Now I’m not.”
He unfastened her bra, shoved down her panties and kissed her so hotly Esme thought she was going to scream with pleasure. His hands were everywhere, touching her, stroking her.
“Say yes,” he told her.
She wasn’t about to say no, no matter what reservations she’d had on their trip to Texas. “Right now,” she said urgently. “Don’t make me wait.”
When he slid inside her, she tensed with pain.
Last hesitated, looking down at her, a surprised expression on his face. “That’s not the usual reaction from a woman.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting pain either.”
He gazed at her, his eyes suddenly clearing. “Oh, my God,” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re a virgin?”
“It’s not important, is it?” She was very afraid he’d stop and leave her, and she so much wanted him to stay exactly where he was.
“It’s important,” Last said, moving gently inside her, kissing her deeply, his hands stroking her so that she relaxed. Last grinned, slow and sexy. He held her close to him, rocking her, and she let him work his magic, and all thoughts flew out of her head until all she could think about was Last and how wonderful he made her feel.
Suddenly waves of pleasure washed over her. Esme climaxed, and it was better than the best show under the big top. “Don’t stop,” she said on a moan. “Don’t ever stop.”
Last kissed her, taking her lips with his, and she knew the second he found his own pleasure. Warmth flooded her at knowing that she gave him happiness. They lay together for a long time holding each other, and it was only when she awakened and he was gone that Esme realized they hadn’t used any protection at all.
Chapter Six
Last Jefferson knew he was in big trouble.
Moreover, he might have gotten Esme into big trouble, a fact that made his heart sink.
He had not expected her to be a virgin. In fact, he’d listened to Mason’s drivel about her being more experienced. The logical conclusion was that she was using precautionary measures. He hoped.
In his need to possess her, he hadn’t really been listening to her. He hadn’t gotten to know her.
And if the judge objected to her showgirl magician lifestyle, he’d really protest her becoming a pregnant single mother.
Last felt ill. “This one is all my fault,” he said, staring at the rows of fence he’d been working on all morning. Fence repair was good for him. Lonely and solitary and time-consuming, it gave him a chance to think about the roller coaster his life had become.
One day he’d been floating through the sky, escaping from his problems, and the next thing he knew, he was flying straight into something that couldn’t be easily resolved.
He owed Esme a lot better than he’d given her.
“Hey,” Calhoun said, riding up to him. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
“Moping?” Calhoun asked.
Last glanced up at his brother. “If you already knew, then why’d you ask?”
Calhoun laughed, getting down to hold the roll of wire so Last could clip it more easily. “This is what I do when I need to think.”
“Well, I’m not really thinking.”
“You were thinking so hard you didn’t hear Gypsy and me ride up.”
Last shrugged.
“I like your girlfriend.”
“Esme’s not my…whatever,” Last said on a sigh.
“Saw your truck there late last night,” Calhoun offered. “Mason did, too.”
“Oh, hell.” Last didn’t need Mason deciding to give him another big-brother butt-kicking. “I am really starting to hate the ranch.”
“It can be claustrophobic,” Calhoun agreed.
“No, just Mason.”
“Yeah. Well, he’s going through the change.”
Last glanced up. “The change of what?”
“Attitude.”
“You must be joking.”
“Sure. He’s trying to figure out what he’s going to do with all this. We’re going to have to hire help if you ship off to California.”
Last stared at Calhoun. “Why the hell would I do that?”
Calhoun shrugged. “Same reason your truck was parked outside Esme’s late last night?”
Last rolled his eyes, accidentally clipping his finger. “Damn it!”
Calhoun sat on the ground, giving up the wire to look at his brother. “I’m sorry you’re the last one here.”
“I’m sorry I’m the last one, period. I’m sorry I’m Last. It sucks.” He chafed having everybody in his business. Nobody could understand what was between him and Esme—he didn’t even understand it himself. But he wanted time to explore it without the circus of his family intruding. “Hey, I know you mean well, but butt out, okay?”
Calhoun sighed. “Sure.”
Last grunted, sucking the blood off his finger and clipping the next wire. Doggedly he clipped and attached, ignoring Calhoun. After a while his brother got up and rode away in silence. Last shook his head. He was now about two miles from the house, and the farther away he got, the happier he was.
Maybe that was all he needed. Distance.
Twenty minutes later, just about the time he felt as if he couldn’t clip another wire, he heard, “Hey.”
Glancing up, he saw Esme in a pretty cotton dress, holding a picnic basket and a patio umbrella. “Hey,” he said, happier than he wanted to be that she was there. “How’d you know where I was?”
&
nbsp; “Your brother said you needed a bandage.” She handed him a foil condom packet. “I found this one in a nightstand in the other bedroom when I was unpacking the children’s clothes.”
“This isn’t a bandage.” Last watched her open the umbrella and spread it behind them so that they were shielded from the ranch’s view. She carefully laid a blanket on the ground and set the picnic basket on it. He already had an erection, so she was making him very, very nervous.
“Depends on what kind of bandage you need.” Esme stood, and her long white skirt billowed around her in the breeze. “What did you hurt?”
Mainly his pride. “Esme, I’m sorry about last night,” he said. “My schmuck potential is pretty high—off the charts, actually. I should have taken—”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I’m pretty sure there’ll be no surprises—for you, me or the judge. However,” she said, “you and I still have something to discuss.”
He watched with interest as she approached him, her hands reaching for his belt. “I’m open to all discussions.”
She undid his jeans. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that, because there’s a lot we haven’t talked about.”
God, he hoped she had more than talking on her mind. He was about to lose his cool and pounce on her. “Name the subject.”
She gently pushed him back on the blanket and eased him from his jeans. Lifting her skirt, she took the condom from him, slipping it over him. He nearly exploded when she sank down on top of him.
“This is definitely the best lunch I’ve ever been served,” he said on a hoarse gasp.
“Hold me,” she said, and he did. They sat together, her legs over his, connected in the most intimate fashion. He put his face against her hair, smelling the fragrance of her.
“You feel wonderful,” he said, his brain on fire.
“I needed to know if last night was a one-time thing.” She moved on him, just barely, so that they would be more tightly locked together.
“I don’t think so,” he said, his throat tight. “I don’t think I could leave you alone to save my life.” He sneaked his hands under her skirt, holding her bare, smooth bottom in his hands. A groan escaped him, so she kissed him, her hands gently holding his face. He squeezed her so that he could feel her more tightly around him, then he slowly moved her back and forth. “God, it’s good,” he said on an appreciative groan. “Stay on me forever.”