For a long, torturous minute, Mase remained utterly still, poised above her, deep, deep inside her, and then he began to thrust, slowly, patiently. Callie moaned softly at first, and then with greater urgency, her fingers opening and closing on his back, her hips rising faster and faster against him.
She cried out suddenly, her thighs, her very essence gripping him, and then Mase felt the explosion shuddering through his entire body, too, a seizure of pure pleasure.
He collapsed against her, spent, whispering words of wonder and content in her ear. And she murmured against him, too, their bodies fitting together as if made for this sole purpose. He hadn’t known it would be possible to feel this way again, Mase realized. And somehow, it was even more beautiful than he could have dreamed.
They made love again that afternoon, Callie playfully urging him to heights he had never experienced. She had a touch, a way—the same touch she had with her animals—that made him wild for her, obedient and daring and crazy to know her again, to possess her as she did him.
Callie made love with her whole being, as if every cell burst with heat and passion. She was never still, never quiet, every inch of her, even her soul, engaged in their joining. And she set him on fire.
When finally they heard the laughter of the returning children, they dressed hurriedly and scampered like kids themselves down the ladder. Callie pulled hay from his hair and he did the same for her. They both laughed.
“Like this is going to really fool someone,” Callie teased as she brushed the hay from his shirt and the seat of his pants.
He quickly spun her around and did the same. “I feel like I’ve just been caught with my hands in the cookie jar,” he said, and they both laughed again.
“I’ll go first,” Callie offered. “No one will notice.”
“Go ahead,” Mase said. “I’ll walk over to the house in a few minutes. Tell Joey I’m showering or something.”
“Okay,” she replied, and turned to go.
He caught her, though. Pulled her back around and kissed her deeply before releasing her. Once he was alone in the barn with the horses, nickering and stirring at their feed buckets, he leaned against the wall and let out a deep breath. “Wow.” He’d never fully believed in magic before. But now he knew how very real it was. Callie’s magic had worked on him, too.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE STORM BLEW DOWN from the Continental Divide that night. A hundred miles to the west, the mountains were shrouded in dense clouds. And, boy, did it rain at Someday Ranch. A bone-chilling downpour borne on high winds that rattled the windows and gates and shook the roof on the barn, spooking the horses.
Callie barely slept through the storm. Twice she went out in the middle of the night to check the animals and quiet them. But it wasn’t the storm that kept her sleepless, it was the crazy, overwhelming love tormenting her.
She got up a little late, having finally dozed off toward morning. She showered, did her hair, even put on makeup. The whole time she fussed she was smiling—that secret, contented smile of a woman who has just been fulfilled beyond her wildest dreams.
Every moment she’d spent in Mase’s arms was seared into her memory. Every touch and caress had branded her. No more losers for Callie Thorne. No other man could ever make her feel so wonderful, so beautiful and so satisfied. Mase was the one. Finally. And his secret barely mattered anymore. How bad could it be? He loved her, she dared to think. He had to love her.
She skipped down the stairs to the kitchen, trying to wipe the telltale grin off her lips, but she knew everyone would see it. Heck, she was glowing from head to toe. Who cared? They had all been playing matchmaker, anyway.
Mase was already gone, running errands with Tom, she learned from her mom. A dart of disappointment shot through her, but it was a small one. He’d be back. And they’d get together again. Maybe not in the barn—Callie almost giggled aloud—but his room wasn’t far from hers. There was tonight. And a thousand more nights.
Callie’s thoughts skidded to a halt, and she set down the jug of milk she was holding. A thousand nights? Mase lived in Denver.... Well, darn, she’d simply talk him into quitting his job, moving here. Maybe Sheriff Hatcher had a spot for him. Sure. She smiled again.
“You really are frisky this morning,” Sylvia said when she walked in with Joey and Rebecca.
Callie gave the kids both a big hug. “I feel pretty good,” she said matter-of-factly. “And how are you two little cherubs today?”
“I’m fine,” Joey said, reaching for a cereal bowl from the dish rack.
“Me, too,” Rebecca echoed, choosing a bowl for herself.
“Where are your parents?” Callie asked the little girl, still not quite believing the sound of Rebecca’s voice.
“They went home.”
“They’ll be back later,” Sylvia explained, and she got the two little ones seated with their breakfasts.
Jarod gave the therapy sessions that morning, and Callie offered to run into town to the feed store when Liz remembered she’d forgotten to tell Tom they were going to run out of rolled oats.
“I’ll go,” Callie said, and she wondered if she’d bump into Mase. Every cell in her body craved the sight of him, and she thought again that she’d convince Mase to leave Denver. He had to realize by now what a better life this was for him and Joey. Okay, so asking him to give up his life as a cop in Denver was a lot. But, jeez, she mused, love could conquer all.
She got the keys to the pickup and went out to start it. She had to turn on the wipers to clear the rain off the windshield. The sun was back out now, but the drive, the ditches, everything was muddy.
She revved the engine and put the gearshift in Reverse. Suddenly, one of her visions came to her.
She was walking down the aisle, her dad at her side. The church was filled, and her gorgeous white dress trailed behind her. Rebecca was holding the train off the floor, and Joey was there, too, next to Rebecca. The smiling faces of her friends and family were all turned to watch her progress.
There was Mase, waiting at the altar. Her breath caught. He was so handsome, so delicious-looking in his tails and formal white shirt. Flowers surrounded him, and there were a few sniffles from the front rows—his mother on one side weeping joyously, Liz on the other side, a hankie in hand. The minister was smiling. It was a match made in heaven.
Callie blinked, but the vision kept on playing itself out.
“I do,” she said.
“I do,” he said.
He was pulling back her lacy veil, his lips meeting hers. She was only vaguely aware of the cheers and applause. Then they were walking back up the aisle, his ring on her finger, hers on his, all new and shiny....
A sudden rap at her car window startled Callie right out of her fantasy.
Francine. “Oh, I’m glad I caught you. If you’re going to the store, grab me another gallon of milk.”
“I will,” Callie told her, “but you just ruined my wedding.”
“Huh?” Francine said, but Callie was driving off.
The ranch road had taken a real beating during the night. It was a veritable washboard. Of course, Callie mused as she steered around the water-filled potholes, there’d been a ton of traffic on it, anyway, from the gymkhana. Subconsciously she noticed a set of peculiar tire tracks left in the mud, tracks leading off along an abandoned county road that crossed a portion of the Thornes’ ranch then wound up into the hills. She really didn’t register the tracks at a
ll—not then—but drove straight past them, whistling to herself, images of Mase in the hay filling her head to overflowing.
She never ran into Mase and her dad. Not at the feed store and not on the highway. And certainly not at the grocery store. Her dad hated grocery shopping. But she did run into a dozen people from town who all wanted to stop and thank her for the great camp-out. Callie had to agree. It had been wonderful. Nothing like the day after, though. Nothing like the hayloft…
Donna Knudson stopped her in the dairy section. Reese Hatcher’s dispatcher was picking up coffee and cream for the coffeemaker in the sheriff’s office. She, too, went on about the super weekend and how she’d caught a rainbow trout in the stream. “My very first. Can you believe it?”
“Bet you didn’t clean it yourself,” Callie said, reaching for two half gallons of milk.
“Well, no,” Donna said, her hand flopping at the wrist, a habit she had when she was talking. “My husband did the honors.”
“Good for him,” Callie said. “Well, gotta get going.”
Then Donna leaned close and placed a hand on Callie’s arm. “That Mase LeBow sure is a keeper, honey,” Donna said conspiratorially. “I mean, bidding on a total stranger at the auction and getting the coolest guy there. Go figure.”
Callie laughed. “He is nice. Did you meet him at the gymkhana?” she asked.
“Oh, my, no,” Donna said, then she made that hand gesture again. “I met him the first time he stopped to talk to Reese at the office.”
“Mase stopped at the sheriff’s?”
“Oh, yes. And I think it’s so neat, his hiding up here in our little town and all. And you guys, your whole family, that is, taking care of his boy like you are.” Donna winked.
Hiding up here…? Callie frowned. She posed her next question carefully. “Mase told Reese Hatcher everything?” she asked.
“Well, sure, they’re both in law enforcement, you know.”
Callie’s mind was whirling. Mase hiding Joey? From what? That trial. It had something to do with the trial. Something dangerous. Suddenly Mase was an open book. Joey was in danger, and he was using the Someday Ranch as a hideout, and… My God.
“You never know what’ll happen when you buy a man, do you?” Donna was saying.
“No, you sure don’t.”
“And, I must admit,” Donna continued, “I was as surprised as Reese when Mase just up and quit his job last week.”
“He…quit?”
Donna drew in a breath. “But I…I thought you must have known. Oh, gosh, oh, my, no one said anything about keeping this a secret. Oh, goodness, I mean, the door to Reese’s office was open, and he usually closes it if it’s personal. Oh, I am sorry, Callie, I didn’t…”
How Callie got out of there, through the checkout and into her truck, she never remembered. Her head felt as if someone had just dealt it a blow with a sledgehammer. The thoughts dashed across a black screen behind her eyes: some kind of threat to Joey’s life; Mase at the bachelor auction; Mase with his son, looking downright menacing.
“Of course, of course,” Callie moaned as she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the Shoshone Highway. “Of course.”
Then she’d babbled away about her ranch being isolated, and he’d jumped at it. She could see the lightbulb that must have switched on in his head. And she’d thought fate had brought the two of them together. Fate. Oh, what a sucker she was.
No wonder he’d wanted Joey to stay at the ranch. And then—dumb, dumb, dumb—she’d shown up in Denver for her shopping trip with Joey. Mase’s furious reaction… Now it all made sense.
Oh, Lord, Callie realized, he’d quit his job. Donna had told her Mase had quit. Why? It must have happened right before the gymkhana. What had he said? A vacation? She couldn’t remember now.
“I knew it, I knew it,” she whispered between clenched teeth as she sped along the open road. “I knew there was something terribly wrong.”
She felt as if she’d been socked in the jaw. Anger, pain, anger again. He’d used her. Boy, had he ever used her. Even when she’d suspected something was wrong, he hadn’t trusted her enough to confide in her.
Mase didn’t trust her.
Yesterday. Oh, my God. The hayloft.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and angrily she wiped them away. How could he have hurt her like this? If he had only told her, confided in her, even a hint…
She turned onto the ranch road, again passing those tire tracks but still not registering their significance. Instead, she was drilled to the core by sudden fear—Mase and Joey were in danger. Then the fear subsided and rage burned in her again. Then pain. As if she’d been mortally wounded.
By the time she spotted her dad’s truck parked next to the barn, Callie’s emotions were in a wild tangle. She didn’t care, though. She only knew Mase LeBow was about to get it, and get it real good.
She got out of the truck, slammed the door and strode right up to Mase and her dad.
“Uh-oh,” Tom said, loud enough for her to catch. “I’ve seen that face before.” Then he not-so-discreetly disappeared around the corner of the barn.
She was vaguely aware of Jarod over in the ring, and Rebecca riding Kahlua, but she didn’t care who saw or overheard.
“You son of a…” she began, turning her face up to Mase’s. “I just found out everything. How…how could you do this?”
He said absolutely nothing. He just stared down at her, his eyes unreadable.
“Don’t you dare pull a silent act on me, mister. I want to know what on earth was in your head when you lied to us. When you used us. And how about yesterday? How about that?”
Still he said nothing, but she could see an emotion flickering in his eyes now. Regret? Ha, she thought. “Don’t you trust me even the littlest bit? Don’t you know how much this hurts? You quit your job and don’t even tell me?”
“Your father knows,” he said after a moment.
“Oh, good, great, Dad knows. That makes it all hunky-dory. And Joey. There’s a threat to Joey’s life and you keep that a secret, too?”
“Look, Callie,” Mase began, and he thrust a hand through his hair. “I was wrong. Dead wrong.”
“Oh, my Lord,” she said tartly, “you were wrong. Sure, now that the cat’s out of the bag. Are you kidding me?”
“Okay, okay,” he said, barely meeting her eyes, “I screwed up. I just thought…”
“You screwed something else, too,” she said in a harsh whisper. “Literally.”
There was nothing Mase could say to that, and he didn’t even try.
“I can forgive you everything,” Callie said, tears hot behind her eyes, “but Joey. Didn’t you realize I needed to know about the threat to him? Do you think I would have made that trip to Denver and gone shopping? Shopping?”
“Of course not,” he said under his breath.
“Well, when were you planning on telling me?”
“I…I was going to tell you before I leave to testify.”
“Really.”
“Yeah, Callie, really. Tonight. In the morning. I was going to have Reese stop out, and I thought I’d sit down with you and your folks and talk it over. Obviously,” he said, his brows knitting, “I left it a little too long.”
“You could say that.”
“Look, Callie,” he said, trying to explain, “I blew it. Okay? I did a stupid cop thing and played my cards too close to my chest. I didn’t even let my own partner know what was going on. I tho
ught the fewer who knew, the better.”
She glared at him. “Why did you quit?”
“The police force?”
“Yes, of course. Why did you quit your job?”
He told her. All about the note he found under his door, his confrontation with Metcalf, the ensuing visit from his boss. “Hey,” he said, “I knew the minute I quit it was the right thing to do. I was fed up with the city, the endless crime, the whole stinking thing.”
“You never said that to me.”
“Subject never came up.”
“It would seem that no subject ever came up between us, Mase, except sex. That sure came up.”
“It wasn’t sex,” Mase said tightly. “You can’t believe that. I made mistakes, okay, but what we…shared, Callie, was not just sex.”
“Whatever,” she said loftily, disbelieving. Guys would say anything when put on the hot seat. Oh, you bet they would. And Mase was cut from the same cookie cutter. What a chump she’d been.
Still, Callie realized as she glared at him, the issue, the vital issue here, was Joey. Not her wounded pride or his male ego or any of it. Joey’s safety was what really counted.
“Who’s doing this?” she asked. “Who’s threatening Joey?”
“I’m convinced the man behind it all is Richard Metcalf, but he’s hired a guy we call the Hitman. He’s the one actually searching for Joey. He’s the one who’s already committed murder. And it’s his neck on the line, too, if I testify.”
“But the cops haven’t caught him,” she pointed out.
“If I change my story, he’s safe. No more arrest warrant, nothing. And Richard Metcalf is safe, too. You better believe Metcalf is footing the bills to keep me silent.”
“Why not…kill you?” Oh, God, she thought.
Courting Callie Page 17