It was difficult for Adam to read Jared but he had no doubt that Danielle was a loving, caring mother. Even though the Cambrys were wealthy, it seemed Danielle was a hands-on parent.
Suddenly there was a buzz on the intercom. Pushing her chair back, Danielle went to it quickly. “Yes, honey.”
“Can you bring me a glass of juice with ice in it?”
“Sure can. I’ll be right up.” Already taking a glass from the cupboard, she offered, “I’m going to take Mark a snack, too, and see if he’ll eat. Can I get either of you anything else?”
With a shake of his head, Adam pushed himself up from the table. “No, we’d better be going.” His gaze caught Jared’s. “Thanks for inviting me over to meet Mark.”
Jared rose to his feet. After goodbyes to Danielle, Leigh slipped on her coat and they all walked to the door.
Jared opened it. He said to Leigh, “If you see Christopher, thank him for all his help in this. I know we’ll get results from the tests quicker because he’s pushing.”
Moments later Jared closed the door.
Adam was silent as he strode to the car. Leigh had always had this quiet way about her that made it easy to be with her. He was grateful for that now, grateful she wasn’t trying to engage him in conversation. She wasn’t asking questions he didn’t have answers to.
Once they were buckled in, he started the engine and turned in the circular driveway, heading away from the house.
Leigh shifted toward him. “If you’re a match, will you go through with the extraction of bone marrow?”
“Of course I will. How could I not?”
“Some people would think of themselves first, the discomfort, the whole situation they’d rather get away from rather than be part of. Especially in your case, with what happened to your sister—”
“Somehow I have to erase those memories of what happened with Delia. I was a kid then. Maybe I took it all in differently from how I would have as an adult. But I’ll tell you one thing. The doctors at Portland General had better be kind to Mark. They’d better not treat him like a number, because I’ll be there to make sure they don’t.”
As they came to a T in the road, he suddenly felt the urge to be at his ranch and to show it to Leigh. “How would you like to see my place? I think I need to breathe in hay and pine before I go back to work today.” He glanced at her. “Unless you have plans for the rest of the day.”
“No plans. I have to run some errands this afternoon, but I’ll have plenty of time for that.”
In the close quarters of the car, Adam keenly recognized his attraction to Leigh, the sexual tension that always simmered between them. He wasn’t sure why he wanted to show her the ranch, but he just did.
As Adam drove southwest of the city, Leigh knew she was making a mistake. Going along with him to see Mark had been a mistake. She was as drawn to Adam Bartlett now as she had been at seventeen. He’d obviously matured. He was more broad-shouldered now, his face more angular, his hair a shade darker. There was a confident air about him now, too, that hadn’t been there as a teenager. His business was a roaring success. Of course he was confident! He’d never talked about his feelings easily, but now he was definitely more guarded. Was it just around her, or was it with everyone?
She didn’t have the right to ask or to meddle. After all, she wasn’t going to get involved. She was involved professionally but wouldn’t be involved personally.
So why was she going to his ranch with him?
Because she was curious.
It wasn’t long until they’d turned off the main road onto the secondary roads. She and Adam had veered onto a lane that was much different from the winding, pristine one at Jared’s house. This one wasn’t bordered by trees but rather was open to the ranch’s scenery with white fencing, two red barns—one larger than the other—and meadows. There were clusters of trees, mostly alders and maples, with groves of firs here and there. When they came upon the house, a shiny blue pickup truck was parked in the driveway. As Adam pulled up beside it, Leigh saw that his log home fit in with the rest of the landscape perfectly down to the split-rail fence along the walk to the front door. The house was rustically charming.
“How long have you lived here?” she asked.
“Three years this summer. After living on the farm, I thought I’d never want to see one again. But after college, Dylan and I moved into a condo in the city. I felt like I was living in a hermetically sealed bubble. I could see the sky but couldn’t touch it. I could see the grass and trees below but not smell them.”
“And you can touch the sky out here?” she asked with a smile.
“I guess I’m able to touch the sky when I feel free. When I can look up into the blue and the wind’s on my face and there aren’t any walls around me,” he said, looking uncomfortable. “I’ve never explained it quite like that before.”
“I know what you mean about walls. I love what I do, especially taking care of children. Yet sometimes I work a double shift and can’t wait to get outside.”
“There’s a gloom about hospitals,” Adam muttered as he walked up onto the porch.
“We’re trying to change that at Portland General,” Leigh assured him. “It has to do with the colors on the walls, decorations, less-clinical uniforms. Especially for the kids.”
“That might help some.” But Adam sounded doubtful as he opened his front door.
When Leigh entered Adam’s house, she saw there was certainly no gloom there. The skylight in the dining room added to the daylight already pouring through the windows. Warm wood tones were everywhere, from the rustic walls and beams, to the floor and entertainment center. Colorful rugs brightened the atmosphere even further. She could see Adam’s sneakers peeking out from behind the hassock and an empty soda can sitting on the side table. Last night’s paper was strewn on one end of the sofa as if he’d looked at it quickly.
“This is beautiful, Adam. You must enjoy spending time here.”
“It seems as if I’m always running in and out. I have a state-of-the-art kitchen I hardly ever use.”
Turning to her right, she glimpsed pine cupboards, gleaming off-white counters, stainless steel appliances. Had women ever cooked in this kitchen? Certainly more than a few had spent the night. She suddenly wanted to know about that…wanted to know about him. But she didn’t have any right to ask about other women.
“Do you want to take a walk?” he asked looking down at her black flats.
“Yes. These shoes are comfortable.”
“I’ll keep you out of the mud,” he said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.
That twinkle had been absent since their first meeting on Monday. Now her heart raced faster when she saw it again.
Adam’s arm brushed hers as they walked across the paved lane to one of the corrals. Suddenly, though, they were confronted with a stream of water three feet wide that flowed at least a quarter of a mile down the lane.
“We could walk around it.” Adam’s smile was roguish and his eyes were devilish as he added, “Or…” Picking Leigh up into his arms, he easily took a long step over the water.
“What are you doing?” Leigh gasped as she held on.
“Getting you to the other side quicker. It’s pretty muddy where the water’s running. I thought we’d try to save those shoes.”
With her arms around Adam’s neck, she breathed in the remembered male scent. Now expensive cologne mingled with it but he was the same. His beard line was starting to show and she remembered how, by the end of the school day, he’d always had a shadow. It had been sexy then and was still sexy now. His arms were strong as he seemed to hold her without any trouble at all, as if she didn’t weigh 110 pounds, as if carrying her was the most natural thing in the world.
However, he only took a few steps with her, then set her down. She looked up at him and turned away, facing the corral, unable to tell what was in his eyes or on his face. Her heart was still beating so fast from the effect of him holding her so clo
se that she could hardly catch her breath. He didn’t seem likewise affected.
“This is Thunder’s corral.”
A beautiful black horse, at least seventeen hands high, ran with his tail flying as he caught sight of Adam. He made a circle around the corral and then another, coming to a standstill under a maple. Then he pawed one hoof onto the ground and came running to meet his master.
Adam laughed. “It’s never simple with you, is it?”
Slipping a roll of hard candy from his pocket, Adam peeled one off, and held it out in his hand to the horse. Thunder lapped it up and tossed his head, then came a little closer.
“Can I pet him?” Leigh asked.
Adam seemed to think about that. Then he nodded. “Slowly, very slowly, let him smell your hand. If he backs away, then we’ll forget it. He definitely likes some folks better than others, and no one ever goes into the corral with him except me.”
“Is he dangerous?”
“No, not when handled correctly. But he’s a stallion and he’s young and he’s spirited. That could lead to trouble even with someone he knows.”
Slowly Leigh held her hand out to Thunder. He didn’t back away, just eyed it, and then her. “Hold still,” Adam murmured, his voice soft and gentle as it gave her a chill up her spine—an excited little chill.
The horse’s breath blew warm on her hand and then he snuffled her fingers. When he rubbed the side of his muzzle against her palm, Adam murmured, “Just stroke his neck.”
Thunder stood perfectly still as her fingers rippled through his coat. Then he backed up and took off at a run again.
With a chuckle, Adam acknowledged, “He likes you. That’s his way of showing off for you.”
They watched the horse as he streaked across the corral catty-corner.
“How often do you ride him?”
“On weekends for sure. With days growing longer, I’ll get more riding time in during the week, too. I’d like to get a couple more horses.”
As she glanced around, she saw space wasn’t a problem. Yet with Adam’s schedule… “Do you have time for that? I mean, they take a lot of care, don’t they?”
“I’d make the time.”
Suddenly Adam turned and leaned against the fence. Studying her, he asked, “What do you do in your time off, except for running errands?”
His smile had always made her tummy somersault, and now was no exception. “You have to promise not to laugh if I tell you.”
“I won’t laugh,” he assured her.
“I go ice skating over at the mall. I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid. After we moved here from the Midwest, it was probably what I missed most—the frozen lakes. In another life, I might have been a figure skater,” she teased.
In another life…if she hadn’t ended their relationship…if she hadn’t wanted to be a doctor…
She was looking up at him now, not at the scenery, not at the magnificent forest, not at the mountains in the distance, not at the blue sky. Adam’s eyes had always told her that there were depths to him that nobody knew, and she’d always wanted to explore those depths. The times they’d made love were filled with some adolescent awkwardness. But more than that, she remembered the passion in Adam, the way he’d always tried to satisfy her first. They’d even read a book together about it—
“Leigh,” he said hoarsely, and she knew he was remembering, too.
His hand slid under her hair as he nudged her closer. The scent of grass and pine and early spring hovered all around her. Her eyelids fluttered closed as his mouth came down on hers.
There was no coaxing gentleness in the kiss, no get-to-know-you-again slowness, no hesitation to make sure she wanted it, too. There was a surety in Adam now, a command that had never been there before. The kiss was a challenge, too, daring her to taste desire with him again.
She’d forgotten all about the taste of desire and how intoxicating it could be. Kisses came and went, but with Adam…
Adam’s kiss had always been like a shimmering rainbow filled with so many colors it dazzled her until she got lost in its brilliance. He didn’t just kiss her. His tongue slipped into her mouth and he explored her. He savored her. He remembered her. Although she felt terrifically off balance, although her feet didn’t really seem to be touching the earth, although the world as she knew it faded away, she was all too aware of everything about Adam. His muscles tensed as they kissed, his body becoming even harder. The taut strength in his arms was evident in the rest of his body as he brought her closer into him, as she felt his thigh muscles against her skirt, as her breasts pushed against his chest. As he grew harder, she felt herself growing softer, molding into him, molding to him.
When the wind picked up and blew through her hair, her arms went around Adam’s neck to hold on, to keep her from floating away.
Then abruptly his hands were on her arms, and he was backing away, breaking the kiss, ending it.
When she gazed up at him, she expected to see passion in his eyes, tenderness, something she’d recognize. But she saw nothing. They weren’t mirrors to the soul, but simply shuttered windows that didn’t reveal anything inside the man.
He didn’t appear to be the least bit affected by what had happened when he said, “For old-time’s sake.”
She wanted to hear some humor in his voice and warmth, something. But it was unemotional, factual, unfeeling even. She felt like a fool.
“Why did you do that, Adam?”
“To see if my memories were true or figments of my imagination.”
“It was an experiment?” she asked, angry now and not sure why.
“You could say that. Admit it, Leigh, you were as curious as I was. Otherwise you would have backed away.”
He’d hit that nail on the head. How could she be angry at him for acting on what she’d been thinking? Still she wasn’t angry about him kissing her. She was annoyed that he hadn’t felt anything when he had.
Trying to prove to herself otherwise, trying to prove that his world had shaken a little, too, she asked, “So was your curiosity satisfied?”
“It was.”
And that seemed to be all he was going to say on the subject. She wasn’t going to poke and prod at him to see if he’d felt sparks and fire, too. “Well, I’m glad. Kissing for experimentation sake will definitely further the study of man-woman relationships.” She was babbling and she knew it but she didn’t care. Adam’s kiss had rattled her much more than she wanted to admit.
Adam glanced at his watch. “We’d better be getting back.”
She’d already told him she didn’t have that much to do today so it wasn’t her schedule he was worried about. After all, he was an important CEO. He had responsibilities, duties and a schedule to keep.
Turning away from the corral, she started across the lane and was met by the wide band of water. She was feeling disgruntled, flustered, embarrassed by giving in to an impulse that meant nothing to him. She wasn’t about to have him watch her walk the whole way around the water. She also wasn’t going to let him carry her across it again. No way, no how. There was only one course to take.
As she slipped off her shoes, she found a spot where she could see the mud halfway across the water. Shoes in hand, she took a leap on to the mound and felt her feet squish down into the brown ooze. Not giving a hoot about that at this point, she jumped clear of the water onto the lane, hurried to the grass and wiped her feet off in it. Taking a tissue from her pocket, she finished wiping her feet the best she could and slipped them back into the shoes, pretending there weren’t splashes of mud on her nylon hose.
Adam had leaped over the stream of water effortlessly and was now watching her. She didn’t look at him as she balled the tissue, stuffed it into her pocket and then took off toward his car.
With a few long strides he caught up to her and clasped her arm. “Leigh?”
Stopping, she looked up at him. She couldn’t quite tell if he was suppressing a smile around the corners of his mouth. The mouth that h
ad taken her back…taken her forward…
“On Saturday night Dylan is giving a cocktail party, and he insists I bring a date. How would you like to go along?”
She should say no. He was making it clear that this was a business event and he needed someone along because that was the proper thing to do.
But maybe he had felt something when he’d kissed her. Maybe…
“I might stop in to see Mark again, too, and it would give us a chance to discuss his condition.”
So much for maybes. Dr. Chambers had given her the order to be available to Adam as well as Jared and his family. She’d forget about the kiss and go for the experience of the party. She’d also be doing her job as liaison. It had been a long time since she’d gotten all dressed up. In fact, she suspected she’d never been to a party quite like the one Dylan Montgomery would throw.
“A cocktail party sounds like fun. What time should I be ready?”
Chapter Five
On Saturday when Adam visited Mark, the little boy seemed weaker and paler to him. Because of that, Adam kept his visit short. The eight-year-old was almost asleep when he left.
Adam had just closed Mark’s bedroom door when a teenager came running up the steps. She had dark-brown, perfectly straight hair that went to her shoulders, and bangs that fell nearly to her eyes.
Spotting him, she came up short, then mounted the last three steps more sedately.
“You must be Adam,” she guessed with a quick smile, reminiscent of Danielle’s.
“Yes, I am. You must be Shawna.” Adam extended his hand, and she shook it without hesitation as if she was used to meeting adults every day of the week. She was wearing jeans that had their share of holes for effect and a lime-green T-shirt under a crocheted sweater.
With a glance at Mark’s door, she asked, “How is he today? I left early this morning before he was up. Mom was out back talking to a neighbor when I came in.”
When Adam had arrived earlier, Danielle had told him Jared was at work today. He tried to bring his work home, but some things he just couldn’t.
Take A Chance On Me (Logan's Legacy) Page 6