Texas Heroes: Volume 1

by Jean Brashear

  Like that was possible. But Maddie tried, using every bit of control she’d gained, remembering her yoga teacher’s admonitions to pull her thoughts back in focus every time they strayed.

  “Okay. Now let’s get you into the saddle. Grip the saddle horn with your left hand and the cantle—that’s the high part at the back—with your right. Don’t worry about the reins this time—I’ve got them.”

  Maddie complied.

  “Now put your left foot in the stirrup and swing yourself upward.”

  Maddie tried, but Fancy shifted and she fell backward.

  “Easy, Fancy.” Boone soothed. “Okay, try it again.” This time, he put both hands on her hips.

  Maddie tried to block out the feel of his hands. Gritting her teeth, she forgot about calm and went for speed. Up she swung and landed in the saddle. The leather creaked, and Fancy shifted, dancing under her weight.

  Too many sensations assaulted Maddie at once—worry about falling off, the sense of her legs spread wide across the horse’s broad back, her concern that Boone might be hurt. She gripped the saddle horn as though it meant salvation, tightening her legs around Fancy.

  “Whoa, Fancy. Easy, girl. Grip her with your legs, but don’t jab your heels into her sides, Maddie. Settle down in the saddle.” One of his hands rested on her thigh while he held the bridle and spoke to the horse.

  Maddie’s gaze shifted to his, the connection instant and electric.

  After a long moment, Boone squeezed her leg once and removed his hand. “You’ll be fine. A horse will seldom stand still while being mounted, but it will get less scary. Just hold on, and I’m going to walk her around, so you can get used to the sensation.”

  Maddie wasn’t sure which emotion held sway: relief that he’d quit touching her—or sorrow at that same thing. Boone’s touch both calmed and disturbed her. “Thanks,” she got out. Then she straightened and grabbed hold. “I’m ready.”

  Boone grinned. “You won’t fall off, I promise. We’re just going around the pen and we’ll take it slow at first.”

  “I know I can trust you.” And she did.

  He held her gaze. “I don’t know about that, Maddie Rose,” he said softly. “But I won’t let you fall.”

  The night before rose between them. Maddie wanted to say something, but she wasn’t sure what. Boone’s face held a strange vulnerability she wanted to ease, but she didn’t know how.

  So instead, she smiled. “Okay. I’ve got some work to do to become the new Annie Oakley. We’d better get started.”

  Boone laughed out loud, and Maddie’s heart swelled. He needed more reasons to laugh.

  Then he settled his hat on his head and walked slightly ahead of Fancy.

  And Maddie the Cowgirl began a new adventure.

  The next evening, Boone walked in and saw Maddie hobbling across the kitchen floor. He’d forbidden her to ride today, warning her last night that the soreness would last a couple of days and not to push it. She hadn’t liked it, but he hoped now she understood why.

  It was painful to watch her.

  “Here,” he said, taking her place at the stove. “Let me do that.”

  He should have known better. Her chin jutted and her eyes shot sparks. “I may be crippled but I’m not helpless.”

  “Maddie, go take a long hot bath and let it soothe your muscles. I can eat a sandwich.”

  “I already took two today.” Mutinous eyes dared him to poke fun.

  “Wait right here.” He went into Vondell’s treasure trove of medicines and emerged with a yellow plastic container. He handed it to Maddie.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s Vondell’s magic potion for sore muscles. I suspect it’s got horse liniment in it, but she figured out some way to not make it sting so bad or smell so rank.” Then he had second thoughts. “Your skin may be too tender to use it, though. Just try a little and see what happens.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Now tell me what I can do to help you with supper so you can go work on those muscles.”

  “It’s almost finished. You can set the table if you want.”

  When the meal was ready, Boone watched her lower herself gingerly into her chair. “You still think you want to ride again tomorrow?”

  Maddie’s head lifted, grin rueful. “Yes and no.”

  He couldn’t help grinning back. “You did fine for a beginner.”

  “Really?”

  Delight came so easily to her. She had no idea how seductive it was. He nodded. “You’ll be a good rider. You’re naturally graceful and you’ve got a good seat already.”

  “It must be the yoga. I’m very limber.”

  He had noticed. And tried not to think of all the ways those long legs could wrap around him. Before his thoughts could escape to his face, he concentrated on his plate.

  Everything fell quiet, so it was easy to hear Maddie’s tiny whimper when she shifted in her chair.

  Boone looked up to see her toying with her food. “Go on upstairs and take another hot bath and use the liniment. I’ll take care of the kitchen.”

  “All right. Thank you.”

  He watched her go, walking as if something might break any second, and he admired her pluck. Maddie was not a complainer. She would be a good rider, but she had work to do first. Only time would tell if she would stick with it. A day like this might have changed her mind.

  Half an hour later, Boone ascended the stairs, telling himself he was only going to take her a bottle of aspirin. The bathroom door stood ajar, the scent of Maddie’s soaps and lotions drifting through the moist air. He almost turned back at the thought of Maddie lying naked in the heated water.

  “Maddie?” He’d just tell her where the aspirin was and then head for the front porch.

  “I’m in here.” Her room, not the bathroom, thank God. “I—I think this liniment might work, but—”

  He approached her room gingerly, not sure what to do. “Are you doing all right?”

  “Kind of.” Her voice was tight and thready.

  “Are you decent?”

  “Yes.”

  Boone peered through the opening and had to muffle a laugh. Maddie stood in her room in a bathrobe like none he’d ever seen, a mass of purple fabric that swallowed her up. Her back was to him, and it was covered with an explosion of color forming a peacock that extended from her shoulders down to her legs. It was the loudest damn robe he’d ever seen, but somehow it fit Maddie’s colorful personality to a tee.

  But his laughter was quickly stifled by the urge to groan when he watched one long, silky leg emerge from beneath the fabric.

  “Oh—” She turned and saw him, and the twisted agony on her face stopped him cold. “I—I can reach everything, but—”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “A cramp. I bent to rub some into the back of this leg and-” Her voice showed the strain. He’d had leg cramps before. There were few things more painful.

  “Here—show me where it is.”

  “You don’t have to—” But her voice was small and uncertain, her face white with pain.

  “I’ll leave if you want, but it’s hard to rub out a cramp in your hamstring on your own.” After the other night, he didn’t want to put his hands on her—yet he wanted nothing more. But Maddie was in pain, and he could control his response to her. There was no one else to help.

  He knelt beside her, and he could see the muscle bunched and knotting. With a hand that was more unsteady than he wanted to admit, he touched the skin that he thought of too often.

  It was indeed satin. But Maddie was in pain and he couldn’t think about that now. “Lie down on your stomach.”

  Her hands were clenched, her teeth digging into her lower lip. With a small, shaky breath, she nodded and complied.

  Boone stood up and slid the robe up out of the way—until he saw the sweet curve of her bottom revealed. His gut knotted. She was naked beneath the robe.

  But Maddie’s thoughts were on anything but lust
right now, and he had to do the same. He dipped his fingers into the liniment and rubbed it between his hands. Drawing a deep breath, he steeled himself to touch her again.

  It helped to stare across the room and knead her muscles by touch. Maddie sucked in a breath, and he responded as he would to any being in pain. “Sh-h-h, breathe slowly and try to relax,” he soothed, using the tone he took with the horses, the one that calmed and reassured. “Relief is coming…it’ll just take a minute. Breathe through the pain. Slow and steady now. That’s my girl.”

  His back ached from bending over so far, so he settled on the bed beside her, concentrating everything he had on slow, careful motions, working the knot out, little by little.

  The edges of it began to soften, and he heard Maddie sigh as the cramp finally let go. Knowing it could rebound, he continued the motions, moving from the one spot to cover the whole leg. As his fingers slid over the back of her knee, Maddie moaned a catchy little breath. Boone quickly shifted past the sensitive spot and down to her shapely calf, then down more to knead her long, slender foot.

  Maddie sighed, and Boone smiled, glad to be easing her pain. He turned his attentions to the other foot, then up that right leg. With every stroke of his hands, Maddie melted and relaxed.

  Until he reached her right thigh, and she moaned.

  But it was not a moan of pain.

  Boone froze, fingers wrapped around her thigh. He tried to swallow, but his throat had turned to sand. Carefully, he removed his hands from Maddie’s body, preparing to rise and leave.

  “Thank you,” Maddie said dreamily, her husky voice even lower, its timbre reaching down to vibrate in his loins. She rolled over, brushing hair out of her face with a lazy feline grace. Her robe gapped at the neck, and he could see the shadowy curve of one breast.

  She saw where he was looking. Color was high in her cheeks, but her eyes were dark and knowing. Slender fingers dropped the satin fall of hair and moved to close the robe, her every gesture tempting him to stay her hand and replace it with his own.

  Neither one moved.

  The air crackled around them. Boone saw his own raging hunger reflected in Maddie’s eyes.

  He clenched his fingers, denying them access to what he craved. He wanted Maddie like he’d never wanted anyone before her.

  “Boone…” she began.

  He could have her now. She was here, and she was willing. If only…

  No.

  He laid one finger across her lips, that one simple touch searing his skin, shooting fire through his blood. “Don’t. Don’t say it. Don’t open that door, Maddie.”

  “Maybe—”

  He shook his head. “No. Don’t settle for less than you deserve.”

  Her eyes widened at that. A tiny frown appeared between her brows.

  Before his control completely broke, Boone lifted his finger from her soft, tempting lips and rose from Maddie’s bed. Drawing on every ounce of his control, he walked away from a woman who wanted him, too.

  Walked away knowing that he had done the right thing.

  But when he looked back and saw her curled into a ball on the bed, it was hard to remember why doing the right thing was so damn important.

  Chapter Eight

  Maddie rocked on the porch swing and drank her coffee, watching the sky lighten from the sunrise on the opposite side of the house. She huddled deeper into her peacock robe and wondered how she’d ever survive the next three weeks.

  Her sleep had been restless, though her soreness was much better, thanks to Boone’s care. But another ache replaced the twinge of ill-used muscles.

  She had no name for this ache. Part was memory of his touch on her skin, how those hands had felt even better than she’d imagined. Strong, gentle… drawing a different ache from deep down inside her. Maddie shivered at the memory of what Boone’s hands had made her feel. Once the knotted muscles let go, the pain had evaporated in the wake of a desire so powerful it had knocked Maddie for a loop.

  She would have welcomed him into her bed at that moment and forsaken every ounce of sense she’d ever possessed. She would have opened her body to him and paid the piper later.

  But Boone had turned her down flat. Maddie wasn’t sure how she’d ever face him again. He didn’t know the behavior was unlike her. She had never offered herself to a man before, never come close to pleading, yet twice now she had wanted nothing more. She was still shocked at how easy it would have been to do just that.

  Boone had wanted her, too. That much, she knew. Even if she’d been blind and deaf, if she hadn’t seen his eyes go dark and hot or heard his voice turn husky, Maddie would still have felt the air vibrate with electric, roaring hunger.

  But Boone had had the control she had lacked, and Maddie was still puzzling over his last words. Don’t settle for less than you deserve.

  Now she heard him on the stairs and held her breath, praying he wouldn’t see her out here, wouldn’t come near.

  When his steps headed toward the kitchen, Maddie exhaled her relief. Boone could get his own breakfast this morning. She’d been sorely tempted to pack up and leave in the middle of the night.

  But if she did, she would never be able to keep the promise she’d made to her father’s memory. She’d never satisfy her own growing yearning to know her roots. And she couldn’t break her promise to Boone, though she no longer kidded herself that she’d be welcome here once her term was up.

  Maddie thought about her naiveté in thinking she and Boone could be friends. Right now, she didn’t see how she could even be in the same room with him.

  But she would do it, somehow. She wouldn’t tuck tail and run. Her father had found the courage to leave all that he loved and make a new life. Her grandmother had endured dying alone. If Sam was right, her forebears had faced drought and disaster, survived the threat of starvation. Maddie would not be found lacking just because she was embarrassed.

  She wanted to give up today’s riding lesson, but she wouldn’t. She would face Boone somehow and keep going. Maddie Rose Collins wasn’t a quitter.

  But she would never let such a lapse happen again. She had been right about Boone’s hands. They were dangerous, so strong and skilled. She had been in such misery, and he had soothed her, had used his voice to reassure and his hands to heal. When the pain had let go, his touch had scatter-shot desire throughout her body. The memory of it made her shiver still.

  When she heard the back door close and Boone’s steps head down the porch and away, Maddie sighed.

  Twenty-three days and counting.

  That afternoon, Boone watched Maddie dismount, thankful that those long legs did the trick. He’d stood back and let her mount by herself earlier, not willing to risk touching her unless absolutely necessary. She’d settled into the saddle and pointedly ignored him.

  An unvoiced warning had surrounded her all day.

  Keep away.

  Maddie’s voice could have shouted it, but her posture made that unnecessary. She had brought him lunch as had become her habit, but nothing else was the same. Instead of peppering him with questions, her laughter quick and easy, Maddie had barely looked at him. Silent as a wraith, she had only spoken to tell him that she would be ready for her next lesson if he had time. That she even wanted to try surprised him.

  It was obvious she didn’t understand why he’d pulled away from her last night, but nothing could be served by explaining. He had exactly the result he needed: Maddie had become a stranger again; unfortunately, this time one who didn’t smile.

  He should be happy. He had the distance he needed.

  He was happy, damn it.

  Muttering savagely, Boone dismounted from Gulliver. He and Maddie had passed the time silently, each lost in his own thoughts. The only conversation had been what he’d needed to say to guide her on proper handling of her horse. Maddie’s responses had been short and to the point. Not rude or angry, just—

  Not Maddie.

  Keep away. He hadn’t realized how much he’d miss
her sparkle.

  He heard a car come up the road and stop in front of the house. Glancing at Maddie, he saw that she didn’t recognize it, either.

  “Want me to see who it is or stay with the horses?” she asked.

  The day was too hot. He’d unsaddle the horses first. “You go ahead. I’ll be right there.”

  Boone made short work of unsaddling the horses and turning them out. With long strides he made his way to the house.

  When he opened the back door, he heard the sound he’d been missing.

  Maddie’s laughter.

  The black-haired man looked up from his glass of tea, green eyes sliding from laughter to wariness.

  “Boone,” Maddie spoke. “This is Devlin Marlowe.”

  Marlowe rose and held out his hand. He was a few inches shorter than Boone, lean but with an air of muscles waiting to explode into motion. He reminded Boone of a boxer, and his nose attested to at least one break. But he hadn’t taken many blows to the head if he did box —his eyes held keen intelligence, looking at Boone with too much knowledge, too much advantage of who knew what conversations with Sam.

  “Boone Gallagher,” he replied, taking Marlowe’s firm grip in his own.

  Then they stepped back to their corners and each studied the other.

  “Would you like some iced tea, Boone?” Maddie asked.

  He jerked his gaze away and nodded. “I can get it.”

  Maddie’s tone turned formal when speaking to him. “Just sit down. I have a glass right here.” She handed Boone his tea, then turned to Marlowe, offering the pitcher with a smile. “More tea, Mr. Marlowe?”

  “Thank you. Please call me Dev, Ms. Collins.”

  Maddie’s smile brightened. “Oh, let’s don’t stand on ceremony, Dev. Call me Maddie.” She turned to Boone and her eyes sparkled. “Dev was in my restaurant once, he tells me.”

  Marlowe’s smile widened. “Best food I ever put in my mouth.”

  “What did you have?” she asked.

  They began discussing the menu as though there was nothing more important in life than fine food. It irritated the hell out of Boone how the two of them smiled and laughed like old friends.