Feeling The Heat

by Rhonda Nelson

  “Good,” she said, smiling, her lids at half-mast. “Cause you’re going to follow my lead this time.”

  11

  “ARE YOU CERTAIN your brother isn’t going to mind if I ride one of his horses?”

  Georgia finished tightening the saddle on Jeremiah and felt a droll smile roll around her lips. “If he didn’t sneak over this morning and shoot you for riding his sister last night, then I’m guessing you should be all right.”

  A shocked chuckle rumbled up Linc’s throat. “You’re wicked, you know that?”

  She climbed up onto Mags’s back and grinned at him, entirely too pleased and sated this morning, but unable to resist the temptation of being happy. “You might have mentioned it once or twice. Or twenty.” She gestured to his horse. “Are you going to stare at him or ride him?”

  “It’s been a while since I’ve ridden,” he admitted. “But fine. Game on, then.” As though he’d been reared in the saddle, Linc smoothly landed on Jeremiah’s back and settled his other foot unerringly into the stirrup. He held the reins with a natural ease in one hand and leaned forward and stroked the horse’s neck with the other. Jeremiah whinnied with horsey pleasure.

  See? Georgia thought, shaking her head. Even the damned horse wasn’t immune to his touch.

  Linc caught her staring and smiled, the easy grin making her stomach flutter with warmth and some foolhardy emotion which had no place in this disposable arrangement they currently found themselves in. “What?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Come on,” she said. “We’re burning daylight.”

  “We’re not burning much of it,” Linc told her. “The sun isn’t even completely up yet.”

  Georgia nudged Mags into a canter. “That’s the best time to ride.”

  And it was. There was nothing quite like watching the birth of a new day, the sun’s first rays kissing the creek that ran along the back of their property. Between the warm fall colors and the bright orange promise of a magnificent dawn, there was something almost spiritual about the experience, particularly when viewed from horseback.

  Linc fell in behind her, thankfully letting her take the lead this morning. Not that he hadn’t last night, as well, she thought, remembering their extended bath.

  Sweet mercy.

  She’d only thought she’d been satisfied.

  Linc had built a fire while she ran their bath and they’d settled into the hot bubbly water and enjoyed a nice long soak, followed by even better nice long sex. After the initial edge had been taken off, she’d found that she wasn’t as impatient as she’d been up in the bedroom. After the bath, she’d had time to explore.

  For instance, she’d discovered she loved the hollow indentation of his spine, that vulnerable area where neck met shoulder, the sleek line of his back illuminated in the firelight.

  She’d discovered that his hair had golden streaks in it when the light struck it just right, and that his eyes were speckled with golden flecks when he was turned on.

  What she hadn’t learned—and what she intended to find out—was why he was so opposed to falling in love. It wasn’t so much marriage that he didn’t care for, Georgia had realized, so much as it was the idea of giving his heart to another person.

  That had become glaringly evident yesterday when he’d made the fools-fall-in-love-only-complete-idiots-get-married comment. Marriage was merely guilty by association. Love, for whatever reason—probably some crack-brained male thing—was the culprit.

  Intuition told her that he expected her to pry because they had been intimate, so she knew better than to take that tack. At some point she hoped he would provide another unwitting insight. If he didn’t, then naturally she would figure out a way to broach the subject because she was a woman who believed in love and wanted to help him revise his opinion.

  In the meantime, she just wanted to enjoy being with him. Time was limited, after all, of that she was certain, and if she allowed herself to dwell on it she’d become morose and miserable, which was out of the question.

  Used to the route, Mags naturally came to a stop as they crested the small hill. The creek and valley below lay out before them, the first fingers of dawn inching over the horizon. From beside her, Linc whistled low.

  “Wow,” he breathed quietly.

  Georgia merely nodded. “This is why I’m relaxed in the mornings,” she said. “I can come out here, me and Mags, and can see just where I fit in the grand scheme of things. I’m just a little speck in this big old world, Linc. But I like to think it’s a significant speck. I know that I’m not finding a cure for cancer or pioneering space technology, but I believe that I make a difference in people’s lives, and ultimately, in the world.”

  “Well, of course you do,” he told her. “We all make a difference in one form or another.”

  She shot him a wry smile. “Even those of us who help those fools who fell in love become idiots who marry?”

  Linc swore and looked away. “Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. He grimaced. “It was a shitty thing to say.”

  “Yeah, but at least you’re honest. You wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t believe it.” She chuckled softly. “You’re funny that way. It’s refreshing.”

  A bark of dry laughter erupted from his throat. “Only you would think that. Everyone else thinks I’m an opinionated, tactless ass.”

  She nodded. “Well you’re that, too, but one doesn’t negate the other.”

  He smiled at her, those mossy green eyes golden in the sunlight. “Thanks. I think.” He paused. “You know what I like about you, Georgia?”

  “You mean aside from my ass?” she teased. That had been particularly gratifying. She’d always worried over the size of her rear end, but Linc had seemed especially taken with it.

  His eyes darkened. “Yes, aside from your ass, though it is damned wonderful,” he added. His gaze searched hers. “I like that you’re genuine. What you see is what you get with you, isn’t it?”

  “For the most part,” she admitted, pleased. “I have to walk a fine line when I’m working.” She rolled her eyes. “Compromise is a big part of what I do. But if I feel strongly about something, I’ll fight for it.” Mags shifted beneath her and she smiled. “Besides, being genuine is a lot more efficient than putting the effort into being someone you’re not, right?”

  Linc chuckled. “And there’s always that.” He paused and those green eyes lit with some unreadable emotion. “My mom would have liked you,” he said.

  Another blanket of warmth settled over her heart and she stilled, sensing that he was about to share something significant with her. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. She appreciated directness, too.” He laughed and his gaze turned inward. “And she was efficient. It’s funny the things you remember, you know? When I was little, I loved helping her hang out the clothes. She’d always pin things together, all the way down the line. Every day was an adventure. We’d take picnics and go to the creek, we’d play in the rain.” He chuckled. “She never missed an opportunity to make a day special.”

  “She sounds like an amazing woman. I wish I could have met her.”

  “She was an amazing woman, and I only appreciate that more the older I get. My dad…” He shook his head. “My dad just about lost his mind when she died.”

  “What happened?”

  “Car wreck,” Linc told her, his lips twisted with bitter humor. “Sixteen-year-old kid with a shiny new license, a shiny new car and virtually no experience. My dad lost his wife, we lost our mother, and those parents lost their child.”

  Her heart aching, she winced. “Oh, Linc,” she breathed. “That’s terrible.”

  Linc idly toyed with the reins. “What was terrible was watching my dad go from a larger-than-life indomitable man to a broken-hearted empty shell of a human being in the blink of an eye. If it hadn’t been for Cade, we would have ended up in foster care. He took care of us while my Dad struggled to pull himself together.”

  That, clearly, was the glossed-over v
ersion, Georgia thought, her heart aching for the boy he’d been. “How old were you?”

  “Twelve.”

  So he was old enough to know what was going on, but not old enough to try and help, to do anything about it. He would have been angry and heartbroken, Georgia thought. Angry, heartbroken and impressionable.

  “I’m sorry, Linc,” Georgia said, compelled to offer her sympathies.

  “My dad worshipped the ground she walked on,” he said. “You know what I remember most about them?”

  “What?”

  “They loved to dance,” he said, smiling softly. “No matter what happened, at the end of the day, after supper, Dad would turn on Otis Redding—always Otis—and they’d slow dance in the living room.” He chuckled. “Naturally Cade and I thought it was gross, but Gracie always got a moony smile on her face.”

  “Moony smile?” Georgia parroted, feigning outrage.

  He rolled his eyes. “Girls. Always looking at things through your romance-colored glasses.”

  Georgia hesitated. “You know she’s really going to miss her mother when we start planning her wedding, right?”

  Linc nodded. “I know. She’s gotten pretty close to our secretary, so I imagine she’ll sort of step in and do some of those motherly things.”

  Georgia smiled. “You mean Marlene?”

  He shot her a look and his eyes widened perceptibly. “That’s right. I’d forgotten that you’d met her.”

  “She’s a sweet woman.”

  Linc inclined his head. “She is sweet, but don’t let her fool you. She can be tough when she needs to be.”

  Georgia snorted. “Any woman would have to have nerves of steel to work with all of you.”

  “Hey,” Linc said, shooting her a scolding look. “Are you saying that you haven’t found me a pleasure to work with?”

  She poked her tongue in her cheek and resisted the urge to smile. “When you’re not throwing Danishes out the car window, insinuating that I am a horny whore looking for my sugar daddy or I’m a knocked-up unwed mother, then yes, other than those times, you are a sheer joy.”

  “I sure didn’t hear any complaints last night,” Linc said smugly, displaying that beastly male arrogance that was at once annoying and thrilling. The man had testosterone in spades, Georgia decided. And only she would find that absolutely thrilling.

  “If we hurry up, you won’t hear any complaints again this morning,” she told him.

  Linc’s gaze sharpened and a wicked chuckle bubbled up his throat. “Are you saying you’re a sure thing, Trouble?”

  Georgia let her gaze drift slowly over him and felt an arrow of heat land in her increasingly muddled womb. The man simply didn’t have any idea how potent he was, which was intoxicating in and of itself. Long denim-encased legs, impossibly wide shoulders, those wonderful magical hands that had brought her so much pleasure last night, the achingly familiar line of his jaw and those unwittingly expressive mossy green eyes.

  God, he was beautiful.

  And she wasn’t going to say a word, sure thing or otherwise, because she grimly suspected she’d share something stupid.

  Like the fact that she’d quite possibly—at some point or another over the past few days, maybe even last night or right now at this very moment—fallen head over heels in love with him.

  She’d been wrong. It hadn’t been love at first sight, it hadn’t hit her like a tidal wave the way she’d expected it. Instead, it had simply snuck up on her and happened when she wasn’t looking.

  No wonder they said love was blind.

  “I THOUGHT YOU SAID we were tightening the noose,” Georgia said, hours later as they pulled out of the final hotel parking lot.

  He slid her a sidelong glance. “Patience isn’t one of your virtues is it?”

  “You know the answer to that already. Karen told you how I feel about ‘downtime.’”

  Linc chuckled. “This isn’t downtime. This is just part of the hurry-up-and-wait process. We’ve gone everywhere we know to go, right?”

  “I suppose.”

  “We’ve checked off every item on your list and mine. We know he’s been at the Vacation Inn, the Sleep Tight Travel Lodge and that he stiffed a meal at the Pancake Emporium, so he’s still in town. We’ve given out cards, we’ve watched those places and the surrounding area that we know he’s been. Now, we have to wait. It’s how the game is played.”

  Georgia released a pent-up sigh. “I know that. And I know that you know what you’re doing, so don’t take my neuroses as failure on your part.”

  He grinned at her. “Don’t worry. I’m not.”

  Frankly, aside from playing the guitar, throwing a cool pot and making a woman come, Linc didn’t claim expertise on anything, but he knew he was damned good at his job. Georgia knew it, too, but her obsessive desire to make the most of every minute wasn’t conducive to the bail bond business.

  “So now what?” she asked.

  “Ordinarily I would work on another case, but I was thinking we’d do something fun instead.”

  She blinked at him, clearly startled. “Fun?”

  Though he knew he shouldn’t, he laughed at her. “Yes, Trouble. Fun. You know, enjoy ourselves.” Naturally that would involve him having sex with her at some point today—because he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of her, of course—but he just wanted to be with her. To do something special for her. Why? He wouldn’t answer that, though he knew it was important.

  “I know what it means, I’m just not so sure we should be doing it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because we should be working.”

  A thought struck and he stared at her. “When was the last time you took a vacation?”

  She flushed and twisted in her seat. “I don’t know. It’s been a while.”

  “How long a while?”

  She frowned and looked away. “A good while.”

  “Georgia.”

  “I went to the beach when I graduated from college,” she admitted finally.

  Linc did a double take. “When you graduated from—How long ago was that? Five, six years?”

  “Seven,” she said. “I skipped a couple of grades in school.”

  Astounded, Linc couldn’t let it go. “You haven’t taken a vacation in seven years?”

  “I believe we’ve covered that.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “My line of work never really experiences lull,” she said. “I’ve always got something going on.”

  “My work doesn’t experience a lull, either, but I still take a vacation every year.”

  “I suppose it’s good for some people.”

  “Vacations are good for everybody, Trouble, not just ‘some people.’” He cast her another glance and gave his head a little shake. “That settles it. We’re having fun today. Think of it as a mini-vacation.”

  She winced regrettably. “You know, as wonderful as that sounds—”

  He could tell she thought it was the opposite of wonderful.

  “—if we aren’t going to be looking for Carter, I should really log in some time at the store.”

  “No.”

  Her eyes widened. “No? What do you mean no?”

  “No means no. It’s not difficult. Karen is there. I’m sure you’ve blocked off this week to take care of this Carter issue and you’re too damned efficient not to have taken care of everything that was going to need your attention until then.”

  “But I—

  “You set your own trap, sweetheart,” he said, tsking as though it were a shame when it really wasn’t. “If you were a screwup like the rest of us, you’d have a leg to stand on. As it is, you don’t.” He reached over, threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed. Heat circled his heart and landed in his groin. “Now get ready to have some fun.”

  Seemingly resigned, Georgia’s hand relaxed in his and a wry smile tugged the corner of her mouth. “I don’t suppose I have a choice.”

  “No, you don’t.”
/>
  “So where are we going to have this mysterious fun?” she asked ominously.

  “Well, first I thought we’d stop by a local crack house, then we’d—

  “Crack house?”

  He chuckled. “I’m kidding. Don’t worry,” he said, shooting her a smile. “We’re going to stay right here in Memphis. Our fair city has a lot to offer and for some reason I get the impression that you’ve missed a lot of its attractions.” He smiled when she didn’t argue, silently affirming his fears.

  Seven years since she’d had a vacation, Linc thought again. How was it that she could spend so much time making sure that everyone else found their joy but didn’t seem as interested in finding her own? Honestly, the woman took driven to a whole new level. But then, just looking at the level of success she’d achieved at such a relatively young age explained that. She’d obviously been working her ass off.

  Linc wheeled his SUV into a parking lot, found a spot near the gate and shifted into Park. Georgia peered through the windshield and a slow smile slid across her lips, infecting her whole face. Something in his chest shifted and tightened, momentarily making it difficult for him to breathe. He’d made the right choice in bringing her here, Linc thought, secretly pleased. Given her love of animals, it only seemed fitting. Hell, only Georgia Hart would have an incontinent, diaper-wearing, one-eyed dog.

  “First stop on our Tour de Fun,” Linc said, “the zoo.”

  And if he was lucky, they’d get to demonstrate some of their own animalistic tendencies.

  12

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU are a hometown girl and have never been to Graceland, eaten a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich or ridden The Ducks. And don’t even get me started on not giving Beale Street a try. It’s the blues capital of the world, and you’ve never even heard of W.C. Handy.” He shook his head as though it were a crying shame.

  “I can’t believe you keep saying you can’t believe it,” Georgia told him, smiling. “I’ve seen enough Elvis documentaries to know what Graceland is all about, though I do appreciate you taking me.” She poked her tongue in her cheek. “Seeing the infamous Jungle Room in person was quite a treat.”