Maggie glared at him, aware her heart had taken on a slow, heavy beat. “I am not an affair kind of woman, Jake,” she warned.
But he wasn’t buying it. “You might surprise yourself,” Jake drawled.
The next thing Maggie knew he had closed the distance between them swiftly, and taken her in his arms. She didn’t have to be a fortune-teller to know what was on his mind. Worse, the same thing was on hers and had been all evening. “Jake, damn it, you swore if I took care of the boys for you that you wouldn’t hit on me,” Maggie protested breathlessly, knowing even as she said it she didn’t really want him to keep his hands to himself.
“I lied,” he confessed, dancing her backward to the doors, which he shut and locked. Finished, he backed her to the wall. Hands braced on either side of her, he spread his legs on either side of hers, aligned his lower half with hers, and slowly pressed his chest to hers. “Besides, you’re off duty now, when it comes to the boys, as they’re asleep.” He placed a light, tempting kiss to her brow. “Which means I’m off duty, too.” Another kiss, this one to her cheek. “And since I temporarily no longer have to behave myself…” He kissed her again, on the neck, until Maggie quivered all over and groaned, soft and low in her throat.
He tunneled his hands through the silk of her hair and ever so deliberately tilted her face up to his. Eyes locked with hers, he vowed, “…I think I’ll do what I’ve been wanting to do since the moment you walked downstairs wearing that piece of fabric you call a dress.”
Determined to resist, Maggie drew a deep breath that lifted her breasts, and closed her eyes against his compelling gaze. “Jake, I—”
“That’s it,” he whispered back, as his mouth lowered slowly, inevitably to hers. “Say it, Maggie,” he encouraged softly. “Say my name. Say it over and over again.”
And then all was lost in the wonder of his kiss, in the feel of his tongue moving sensually across the seam of her lips. Maggie moaned again, shifting against him. His lower half was rigid with arousal. Where he pressed against her, the ache increased with lightning speed. Instantaneously, her insides went liquid and her knees weakened to a treacherous degree. “Oh, Jake,” Maggie murmured again, as her fingers dug into his shoulders, and then his tongue was inside her mouth, sweeping sweetly, giving to her the kind of desire she had only dreamed existed. The yearning that swept through her was almost unbearable. Her breasts ached and burned for the nimble play of his fingers. Before she knew what she was doing, Maggie had threaded her hands through his hair and she was kissing him back, passionately, wildly, wantonly. Until everywhere their bodies touched, liquid fire pooled. Tormented beyond her wildest dreams, Maggie groaned again. His knee slid between hers even as his hand went to the catch that held up the front of her dress. Her lips parted. And she knew he was going to make love to her, here, now.
Make love…
But not marry…
Never marry…
Realizing how easily she could be seduced both by Jake and the chemistry flowing between them, realizing that if he loved her and then left her he really would break her heart, Maggie came swiftly to her senses. Her breath coming hard and fast, she tore her mouth from his, and with her hands flat across his chest, pushed him away from her. “Jake, stop!”
Too late, he had already undone her dress.
Working feverishly to save herself from what surely was a worse fate than her last broken engagement, Maggie caught the edges of her chiffon dress before the bodice could fall from her breasts. She could not help but be aware of the hard rasp of Jake’s breath, the trembling of his body, nor the disappointment in his eyes, as she reclasped the catch at the nape of her neck with shaky fingers. Nor could she seem to take her eyes away from his.
“No seeing what’s under that fabric, hmm?” Jake teased, his heated glance roving her breasts and making the sensitized tips pucker all the more. The yearning inside her increased, warring firmly with the urge to protect herself, until finally, inevitably, the age-old instinct for survival won out.
“Not a chance in hell,” Maggie affirmed, uncomfortably aware even as she spoke that she’d like nothing more than to feel his lips on her breasts and that it would take very little—a few more hot, seasoned kisses—for him to seduce her into making love with him all night, all the way. In fact, to her detriment, she could even imagine how wonderful and wild it would be. And that, she knew, was not wise, either.
Looking extraordinarily pleased with himself, Jake stepped back and grinned down at her in a way that made her pulse race all the more. “So it won’t happen tonight,” he said breezily, with only a modicum of regret, looking suddenly smug and very male. His eyes darkened sensually as he leaned toward her and promised, “It will happen, Maggie. And it’ll happen soon.”
He seemed so damn sure of himself. And her! Maggie had half a mind to kiss him again, just to prove she could do so and still walk away. Yet even as she contemplated such a move, Maggie schooled herself to remember her end goal here and that was to be married and have a family of her own. Jake had already been quite forthright in telling her that he was not going to give that to her. Not now, not ever.
Which meant, like it or not, she had only one path to take.
“Like heck it will,” she countered hotly to his assertion they would make love and soon. She smoothed her hair into place and drew her dignity around her like an invisible force that would keep him away. “From now on, cowboy, I am keeping you strictly at arm’s length!”
Before Jake could reply, the phone rang. Jake swore heatedly, looking mighty unhappy at the interruption, and reached for the phone with a disgruntled frown. “Who could be calling this late at night?”
Chapter Five
“Kelsey, thank God, where are you?” Jake demanded, relieved his sister had at last called to check in.
“Colorado,” Kelsey said.
Aware Maggie was starting to tiptoe out of the room, Jake motioned for her to stay put. “What are you doing there?” he asked his sister, his eyes still on Maggie, who was looking deliciously tousled after their kiss. Damn, but he wished he could kiss her again and take her up to his bed and…
On the other end of the line, Kelsey let out an exasperated hiss. “I’m doing what I’ve been doing, looking for Clint!” she told him angrily.
Jake massaged the tension from the back of his neck. Whether he liked it or not, Kelsey’s situation had to be dealt with. “Did you find Clint?” Jake asked, realizing he was still a little angry, too.
“No, not yet,” Kelsey admitted with a reluctant sigh, “but I think I’m getting close.”
That, Jake figured, was debatable. “I think you should cut your losses and come home, Kelsey,” he ordered sternly, his fury with his proud-to-a-fault brother-in-law intact. “The twins miss you.”
Kelsey blew her nose. “Rusty and Wyatt miss their dad, too,” she replied emotionally. “Furthermore, this is all your fault, Jake.”
“Mine!” Jake echoed, incensed. “I’d like to know how you figure that!” All he had tried to do was help!
Kelsey ignored him, as she always did when he lost his temper with her. “I’ll call tomorrow, when the boys are up,” she said stiffly, as Jake closed his eyes and passed a hand over his eyes. “I just wanted you to know I’m okay,” she continued in a low voice seething with resentment.
Jake sighed. He was handling this all wrong. God knew the last thing he wanted was to make things worse for her. “Kelsey—”
Click.
Realizing his younger sister had hung up on him, again, Jake swore beneath his breath. He opened his eyes, found Maggie looking at him with concern. Frowning, Jake hung up the phone.
“Problem?” Maggie asked, as he had known she would.
“And then some,” Jake muttered regretfully, aware that as far as Kelsey and Clint went he could not do anything right.
“You know, I can go on upstairs and give you some space,” Maggie offered.
Again, Jake shook his head. He wanted her to
stay. “No. Don’t. I could use a friend right now.”
Maggie edged closer. “You and your sister were fighting just now?”
Jake nodded sadly. He took her hand and led her over to the sofa. “It’s become a real habit, as of late.”
Maggie kicked off her sandals and curled up next to him on the sofa. Her blue eyes sympathetic, she regarded him kindly. “Because you don’t approve of the man she married, I gather?”
“How do you—?”
“It was obvious, in the disparaging way you spoke of her husband, Clint, and urged her to cut her losses and come home. Honestly, Jake, you can’t expect her to appreciate that.”
“Yeah, well.” Jake turned toward Maggie slightly, so his thigh nudged her knee. “I don’t appreciate being blamed for the breakup of her marriage.”
Maggie absently smoothed a speck of lint from the shoulder seam on his shirt, then dropped her hand back to the sofa as she looked into his eyes and asked in a soft, nonjudgmental tone, “Were you responsible?”
Jake shook his head. “No. Although I would have prevented the marriage in the first place, if I could have. It was the year my dad died. I was twenty, Kelsey was eighteen. I knew she was upset but I never expected her to decide not to go to college and run off with her boyfriend, Clint, and elope. By the time I found out about it, the damage was done. She was married and determined to stay married and she followed Clint from one ranching job to the next, making the best home she could for them, and eventually the twins.”
“What’s not to like so far?” Maggie interrupted. “They both sound pretty responsible and familyoriented to me.”
“They were until about a year ago when the ranch Clint was managing was sold and he suddenly lost his job.”
“He couldn’t find another?” Maggie guessed.
Jake took Maggie’s hand in his and absently stroked the inside of her wrist. “Nothing comparable to what Clint’d had, as a ranch manager for a big spread. Kelsey offered to go to work to support the family until he could find something like what he’d had but Clint wouldn’t hear of it. He felt she should be home with the boys. So I stepped in and offered him a job on the Rollicking M. He told me he didn’t want my charity and refused it. He wanted to wait until he found a good job on his own, with comparable salary and a few benefits. Only problem was, by then their savings had run out and they were ready to lose their house. I offered to loan them the money to keep it—again, it was refused. So I did the only thing I could; I offered to call in every influential friend I knew in the Cattlemen’s Association and get him a job that way. Again, I was refused. So I did it on the sly.”
To his chagrin, Maggie looked every bit as aghast as his sister and her husband had been about that. “Oh, no, Jake, you didn’t,” she said.
Beginning to feel really angry all over again, Jake dropped her hand and clenched his jaw. “What was I supposed to do, let my sister and her two boys starve because her husband is too proud and stubborn to accept my help?”
Maggie couldn’t argue that. “So what happened?”
“Clint took the job that I’d gotten for him. He was doing great, too. It was working out for everyone until a jealous co-worker who knew someone who knew someone else told Clint he’d been hired as a favor to me. Clint was furious. He verified that was indeed the case, quit, and went home and told Kelsey what I’d done.”
“Did she know?”
Jake shook his head. “No. Up until that point, she hadn’t a clue. I didn’t tell her because I didn’t want to put her in a position of keeping something like that from Clint.”
Silence fell as Maggie took all that in. “How did she feel?”
“She was royally ticked off.”
“So they ran away together and left the boys with you?” Maggie guessed.
“No.” Again, Jake shook his head. “Clint took off to find his own job without my influence or interference. He told Kelsey he was heading north to the big spreads in Colorado, Montana, and the Dakotas to look for a position as good as the one he’d had. He told her she wouldn’t hear from him again until that had happened. Kelsey figured he’d either find something quickly or cool off and come back to her and the boys and continue looking here in Texas, but when he hadn’t returned after two months, she decided to go looking for him herself. So, she borrowed some money from a friend, left the twins with me and went off to find him. That was a couple weeks ago. Since she still hasn’t found him, I asked her to come home. That’s what we were arguing about just now. Not surprisingly, she refused. She’s just as stubborn and foolishly independent as Clint is.”
Maggie’s blue eyes were filled with understanding.
“Sounds like you have a real mess on your hands.”
“Yep. Kelsey blames me for interfering with her marriage, and she says she isn’t coming home until she has righted my wrong and brought her husband back.”
Maggie was silent a long moment. “She must really love her husband, to forgive him running out on her like that.”
“I’ve never doubted that…” Jake admitted. In fact, it was one of the things he envied about his sister and her husband, the fact they did love each other so.
“But…?” Maggie studied his face.
He shrugged, unable to help but be angry about all the time Clint and Kelsey were wasting. Crises should be handled together, as a family unit, not apart.
“I know what it’s like to love someone so much you’d lay your life down for them, but I still don’t think that gives either Clint or Kelsey just cause to run out on the boys the way they have, even temporarily.”
Maggie laid her hand on his. “Still, it’s probably better that she and her husband work out their difficulties in private, don’t you think?”
“I guess,” Jake studied their intertwined fingers. Her hand looked so soft and delicate next to his. Sighing, Jake turned his gaze to Maggie’s face and admitted, “I wouldn’t want the boys to witness the arguments between Clint and Kelsey if she can’t talk some sense into him and bring him back. And I’ve got some doubts about whether or not Kelsey will be successful in her endeavor.”
“How come?” Maggie asked, her blond eyebrows furrowing in concern.
Jake sighed and wished it wasn’t true. “Because Clint’s a cowboy through and through.”
“Meaning?” Maggie prodded.
Jake shrugged. “Clint’s never been happy on any one ranch for long. He’s always looking for greener pastures, more of a challenge.”
“Sounds a bit like you.”
Jake warned himself not to get too attached to the admiration in her eyes. “I’ll admit my life has been defined by hard work, too. And that I’m also a solitary kind of guy who takes a lot of satisfaction from saddling up and roaming the range. But I draw the line at putting my profession before my family.”
“And you think that’s what Clint is doing?” Maggie asked gently.
“It’s what most cowboys do,” Jake replied emphatically. “That’s why so many never marry at all, ‘cause they can’t settle down for long, even when they try.”
“You say that almost as if you accept it,” Maggie noted, clearly troubled by the revelation.
“That’s because I do accept it,” Jake replied. The moment drew out. He gave her a steady, assessing look. “So, do you still want to lasso yourself a cowboy?” he asked lightly. “Or are you aiming for someone a little easier to tie down?”
“Like what?” Maggie asked, a flirtatious light suddenly reflected in her deep blue eyes. “A desk jockey or a stockbroker?”
“Anyone who doesn’t spend their life roaming the wide-open range,” Jake specified bluntly.
“Actually, I think now that I’ve considered it a bit, what I really want is a Renaissance cowboy.”
That sounded like something that someone who’d lived in New York too long would come up with, Jake thought, smothering a laugh. “And what would that be?” he asked.
“In my particular case, a Texan who is good at, and intere
sted in, just about everything.”
“Hmm.” Jake regarded her thoughtfully as she continued to look at him.
“Although when it comes to your sister and her problems, you’re more understanding than I thought,” she allowed. “For a Neanderthal cowboy, that is.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. The mischief sparkling in her long-lashed eyes brought out an answering devilry in him. “That what you think of me?” Jake prodded back. “That I’m a Neanderthal?” Somehow the knowledge wasn’t as disturbing to him as he thought it should be. Maybe because she seemed to bring out the caveman instincts inside him.
“It was,” Maggie admitted. “Until you said you knew what it was like to love someone so much you’d lay your life down for them, anyway.” Maggie pinned him with her eyes. “So who was she, Jake?” she demanded with unassailable determination and curiosity. “Who was the woman you would’ve laid your life down for?”
MAGGIE WAITED for Jake’s answer. To her frustration, he merely grinned evasively and taunted teasingly, “Jealous, darlin’?”
“Curious,” Maggie corrected, still holding his eyes deliberately when he would’ve put her off.
Jake disengaged their entwined hands and stood. “Curiosity killed the cat,” he announced as he stalked away from her.
“But not me,” Maggie replied as she uncurled her legs from beneath her and stood.
In fact, thus far, her need to discover things for herself had always been an asset. And she wanted to know who Jake had been in love with. Might still be in love with…
“I beg to differ with you on that, Maggie honey. In this case, your curiosity just might be your downfall.” He watched as she bent and picked up her sandals. “Don’t you think you ought to be hitting the sack?” he suggested in a not-so-subtle ploy to be rid of her and her nosy questions. “Those nephews of mine are likely to be up pretty early.”
Maggie pursed her lips in silent frustration. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Jake wasn’t going to tell her what she wanted to know tonight. Hence, she would just have to find out what kind of romantic past he’d had from other sources. Perhaps, Harry.
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