Montana Mavericks, Books 1-4

by Diana Palmer

  Her words sent Luke’s spirit soaring. An amazing lover. Yeah, by damn, he was.

  But so was she. “Maris…Maris…”

  They were kissing again, their bodies moving together in perfect harmony. He slid his hands under her hips. “Put your legs around me,” he whispered thickly.

  She did it, and then things got really wild. A red haze of pure lust burned behind Luke’s eyes. He couldn’t slow himself down any longer, and his thrusts into her velvety heat became faster, harder, deeper.

  “Making love to you is like riding the tail of a comet,” he whispered hoarsely.

  “For me, too, Luke,” she gasped. Without intent, her fingernails dug into his back. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”

  “No way, baby. I couldn’t stop now even if I wanted to. Even if you wanted me to.”

  Maris’s moans turned to whimpers, and her whimpers became cries. “Luke…Luke…Luke!”

  He went over the edge himself. “Maris…” He wanted to say more, but he was suddenly too weak to do more than collapse upon her.

  It seemed an eternity before either was able to move. Maris lay under him with her eyes closed and listened to her own heart returning to its normal beat. Her skin was damp with perspiration—so was Luke’s—and suddenly the night air didn’t feel as warm as it had.

  As she opened her eyes and felt the weight of Luke’s limp body clamping her to the ground, her system went into shock. Had she lost her mind tonight? She stared at the full moon and blamed it for her aberration. It was a common belief that people behaved peculiarly when the moon was full, but making love on the ground with a man who would never commit himself to anything or anyone—other than rodeo—was insane, not peculiar. Especially when they had used no protection.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned.

  Alarmed at the agony in her voice, Luke raised up. “What?”

  “Let me up.”

  “Honey, what’s wrong?”

  “You need to ask? Luke, we didn’t use any protection.” She pushed on him. “Let me up.”

  “Well…sure…but…” Luke moved to the ground, but he caught her hand before she could leap up and dash away. “Tell me you’re not sorry about this.”

  Maris jerked her hand out of his. “If I did it would be a lie.” She grabbed a corner of her skirt and yanked. “Please get off my clothes.”

  He got to his feet. “Maris…”

  “I can’t talk now.” Hastily gathering her clothing, she looked around the dark landscape and spotted a large bush. While Luke watched, confused and a little queasy over her attitude, Maris disappeared behind the bush.

  With a distinct lack of enthusiasm, he found his own clothes and began dressing.

  He was standing next to Rocky when Maris reappeared. “The last thing I expected was immediate regret,” he said gloomily. “Why do you feel that way, Maris?”

  She stopped. “Something happened to me tonight, Luke. I don’t know what it was—”

  “How about needing a man?” he interjected cruelly.

  She flinched, but forced herself to stand there. “I’m not blaming you.”

  “You’re not. Well, for some damned reason that doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better. If you’re not blaming me, then you’re blaming yourself, and that’s just plain idiotic. Needing sex is as natural as needing food and water. Are you ashamed of being human?”

  “Having sex is not the same thing as sitting down to a meal, so that argument leaves me cold. I’m walking back to the ranch. Alone. You ride Rocky home. I need to think.”

  The ice in her voice unnerved and angered Luke. “Lady, you are one mixed-up human being. Ten minutes ago you couldn’t get enough of me and now you hate my guts.”

  Maris’s jaw dropped. “I don’t hate you! Why would you say such a thing? I…I’m confused. Can’t you understand that? I’ve never done anything like…like what I did tonight in all my life.”

  “Why didn’t you think about that before we made love?” Luke put the question harshly. Maris’s attitude hurt. Maybe she was confused, but so was he. He didn’t want her talking this way, acting this way. While making love he’d had visions of…visions of…Well, they weren’t clear, but for a fact they had included Maris.

  Maris looked at him for a long moment. Then she lifted her chin. “I should have. Good night. I’m going home.” Turning, she started walking.

  “Maris!” She kept going. “You can ride behind me.” She kept going. “Damn you,” he shouted, and then wondered in the echo of his own anger if he wasn’t damning himself.

  Ten

  Maris had a hard time falling asleep that night. Again and again she got up to prowl around the house and question her behavior with Luke. Taking momentary pleasure while ignoring the aftermath was so unlike her that the episode was deeply unsettling.

  The only time she made sure she was in her room was when Keith came home. With her lights off she listened to the boy’s stealthy movements in the house, obviously an attempt not to wake her. It was a few minutes before midnight, exactly as he had promised. Her heart melted just a little for Keith. He was a dear and she loved him as a woman must love her own son.

  Then she remembered how careless she and Luke had been tonight and that she could be pregnant this very minute.

  A sudden abandoned joy leapt through her body. A baby. Maris had been sitting on the edge of the bed and she got up to pace, curling her arms around herself. What if it was true? What if Luke had made her pregnant tonight?

  She stopped pacing to calculate dates, then frowned at the result. Her most fertile time wouldn’t be for another day or two. This was something she understood very well. Before learning of Ray’s vasectomy she had faithfully kept track of her monthly cycle, steadfast in her hope of becoming pregnant. The habit had stayed with her, albeit absentmindedly and without cause, but she was always able to pinpoint which stage her body was undergoing.

  Disappointment created a furrow between her eyes. It was highly unlikely she had conceived tonight. If she and Luke had made love—by mere coincidence, of course—when her cycle was at its peak, she could have had the child she’d always yearned for.

  Her mouth was suddenly cotton dry as a shocking idea struck her: seducing Luke at the right time to conceive. Luke would never know, she told herself. He was leaving right after the horse auction, and she couldn’t imagine a reason why he would ever return to Whitehorn. Ray’s death hadn’t been that long ago. She could tell everyone the baby was Ray’s. She had heard of ten-and eleven-month babies, and often, she had also heard, a first baby came late.

  Oh, my God, she thought frantically. Could she actually do something so deceitful?

  But Luke was probably her one and only opportunity to have a child with no one being the wiser. And it wasn’t as if he would care, even if by some improbable chance he should figure out her scheme. He was a drifter, a man who by his own admission visited his mother only once a year. He had no ties and obviously wanted none. He would undoubtedly be surprised if she instigated further lovemaking, but why would he question her motives? He would believe, as he had tonight, that she merely needed a man.

  Trembling, Maris crawled into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Her eyes were wide and staring. Could she do it? Could she deliberately trick Luke into thinking she wanted his body once or twice more merely because she was lonely? This was Saturday night, or rather, a very early Sunday morning. Monday or Tuesday would be her fertile period. But how would she accomplish it? With Keith on the place, how could she spend time alone with Luke?

  Her morals battled with her intense desire to have a baby. Again she relived that awful moment when Ray had told her about his vasectomy. He had cheated her out of something that was only every woman’s right—the right to bear children. Life had cheated her, Maris decided bitterly. If Luke was the kind of man who needed a family she wouldn’t even consider doing something so underhanded. But he was a loner, a man who actually worked at remaining rootless and unencumbe
red. Aside from that one personality flaw he was a perfect candidate to father a child, physically strong and healthy, reasonably intelligent and ambitious in his own way.

  By morning Maris had decided that yes, she could do it, and then no, she couldn’t, so many times, she got up bleary eyed and depressed. She made pancakes for breakfast, then took a cup of coffee to her bedroom while Luke and Keith ate. The thought of food made her stomach roll, though the coffee tasted good. The truth was that she didn’t want to look Luke in the eye this morning. She didn’t want to see what had happened between them on his face, and she was sure there would be some sort of reminder in his expression.

  Groaning because there was no way to avoid him once the yard sale began, Maris got ready for the day. Her skin was pale, she saw in the bathroom mirror, and she applied some blusher to her cheeks and lipstick to her lips.

  When she finally braved the kitchen again, Luke and Keith were gone. A glance out the window told her where they were: working with a horse in the corral. Maris sighed. Luke was the most constant, the hardest-working man she’d ever known. Compared to Ray’s lackadaisical interest in any aspect of the ranch, Luke was a saint.

  Standing at the window and squinting to watch the two men and the horse within the corral, Maris knew that she couldn’t delude and manipulate Luke into giving her a baby. How could she have even thought of something so dishonest and conniving? Some of the tension drained from her system. Feeling better at having ultimately made a sane and sensible decision, she tackled the breakfast dishes. When the kitchen was tidy, she went outside to await any visitors to her yard sale, though she really didn’t expect a repeat of yesterday’s onslaught.

  The first car that arrived was familiar. Smiling, Maris walked out to greet Lori Parker Bains. “Lori, hi.” She gave her friend a hug. “Gosh, it’s good to see you.”

  Lori was carrying a small box. “I made a batch of fudge last night. I brought you some.”

  “Homemade fudge? I haven’t made fudge in years. Thanks.”

  Lori frowned. “Maris, are you feeling well? You look a little peaked.”

  And that was when the first lie came out of Maris’s mouth, without warning, without intent. “I…I’ve been a little queasy in the morning for the past few weeks.” Maris could hardly believe she’d said that, and to her best friend, to boot. She felt embarrassed, and her face burned.

  “Every morning?” Lori asked with a serious edge to her voice. “Maris, queasiness in the morning is a symptom of pregnancy. Do you suppose…?”

  Maris felt about two inches high. Lori was the one person in Whitehorn who knew how much Maris had always wanted a child. However, Lori was a nurse and a midwife, and if anyone had the training and talent to see through Maris’s lie, it was her.

  “I doubt it very much,” Maris said firmly, wishing to God she hadn’t told that abominable lie. Why had she lied? Hadn’t she decided not more than a half hour ago in the kitchen that she wasn’t going to trick Luke into anything?

  “Beside a queasy stomach, how else have you been feeling? Are your breasts tender?”

  Maris’s breasts were very tender this morning, but only because of the extremely ardent attention Luke had given them last night. “Uh, sort of,” she mumbled.

  Lori was beaming. “And what about getting up in the night? Are you using the commode a little more than usual?”

  “No.” She absolutely could not tell one more lie to her best friend. “It’s nothing, Lori, really. Just forget I said anything, okay?”

  “Forget it? Maris, if you are pregnant it’s very important to begin prenatal care as early as possible. Your baby will benefit by it and so will you.”

  Maris felt as though her stomach had dropped somewhere down by her knees. Never had she rued an impulse more than she did this one. “It’s nothing, Lori. I swear it.” She forced a bright smile. “Did you come to look over my sale items? There isn’t much left. It was a little crazy here yesterday and most of the good stuff was sold.”

  Lori was not distracted by Maris’s change of subject. “Promise me one thing, at least. If you don’t want to see a doctor right away, buy one of those home pregnancy tests.” She named a brand. “It’s really quite reliable, Maris.”

  Buy a home pregnancy test in Whitehorn’s one drugstore? Maris’s heart sank. John Tully would have a field day spreading that news around town.

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “Maris, you have to do more than think about it,” Lori said in her most professional voice. “Look, I know what you’re thinking. There’s only one place in Whitehorn that carries that product, and you would just as soon keep your condition private until you know for sure. How about if I buy the test and bring it by sometime tomorrow?”

  “That…would be nice,” Maris said weakly. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Luke walking across the yard, which presented a golden opportunity to desert the topic of pregnancy. “There’s Luke Rivers. Would you like to meet him?”

  Lori turned to see Maris’s hired man. “Wow,” she whispered. “Maris, he’s gorgeous. I would love to meet him.”

  “Luke,” Maris called. When he looked her way, she beckoned him with her hand.

  He began ambling toward the two women. Earlier this morning Maris hadn’t even looked at him, and he had to question why she was friendly again.

  “Hi,” he said when he’d reached Maris and her companion.

  “Lori Bains, Luke Rivers.”

  Smiling, Lori offered her hand. “Nice meeting you, Luke. I’ve been hearing your name quite a lot around town.”

  “Is that right?” Luke shook Lori’s hand and grinned. “Why would anyone be mentioning my name?”

  Lori shrugged prettily and Maris felt an uncharacteristic pang of envy. She could never look the way Lori did, not if she spent the rest of her life trying every cosmetic on the market and even resorting to plastic surgery. Lori’s blond hair challenged the sun’s bright light, and Lori’s smile could grace a toothpaste ad.

  “Well, you’re new to the area, for one thing,” Lori replied. “And you’re single and good-looking.” She smiled teasingly. “People just like to talk, Luke, especially in a small town.”

  “Guess that’s true.” Luke thought that Lori was one of the prettiest women he’d ever seen. She was also very friendly and, he suspected, a warm and compassionate person.

  But it was Maris who was making his skin tingle, not Lori Bains. He gave Maris a melting look. “How are you this morning?”

  Maris turned three shades of red. “Fine…just fine.” As she had feared, every detail of last night’s misadventure was in his eyes. “Uh, Lori wanted to meet you.”

  His gaze returned to Ms. Bains. “Well, it was good meeting you, Lori. I’m sure we’ll see each other again before I leave.”

  “Oh? How long will you be here?”

  “Until the end of September.” Luke looked at Maris. “That’s still our agreement, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Maris said quietly, wondering why he would ask her that. Nothing they had said last night or at any other time could possibly be construed as a deviation of their agreement.

  “Well, I’d better get back to work.” Nodding at Lori, he walked away.

  Both women watched him for a few moments. Lori spoke first. “Luke is in love with you, Maris.”

  Maris’s eyes widened in shock. “Don’t be silly! Luke can hardly wait to get out of here.”

  “Do you mean to tell me that you don’t feel something from him?” Lori looked exceedingly doubtful. “Hasn’t he said or done anything to let you know he’s interested? He is, Maris, believe me. I saw the way he looked at you.”

  “Your imagination is running wild, Lori. He didn’t look at me any differently than he looked at you.”

  “Hogwash. Well, I can’t make you like him, but I do. Not for any romantic reason,” Lori added. “But he seems like a darned nice guy to me.”

  Maris was more depressed than ever. Not only had she told that a
bysmal lie to her best friend about feeling queasy every morning—apparently to pave the way, she thought disgustedly, just in case she changed her mind again about using Luke—she’d felt the heat of Luke’s gaze and knew that he was thinking of further intimacy between them.

  But as for him being in love with her, that was utterly ridiculous. She was glad to see another car arriving. “Look around if you want, Lori. I’ll go say hello to the Jensons.”

  Sheriff Judd Hensley drove in around two that afternoon. He was out of uniform and in his own car, obviously enjoying a day off. There were so few things left to sell that Luke and Keith had gone back to work with the horses and Maris was tending the sale by herself.

  Judd walked up. “Hello, Maris.”

  “Hello, Judd.”

  Judd was looking around. “Appears that I should have come by yesterday. I heard that people were buying your stuff like crazy. Seems to be the truth.”

  “The sale was a huge success,” Maris agreed. “I never dreamed so many people would show up. As you can see, there are only a few odds and ends left.”

  Judd’s steady gaze rested on her. “How are you doing?”

  “Just fine, Judd. Please don’t worry about me.”

  Judd jerked his head toward the corral. “I see you’ve still got Luke Rivers working for you.”

  “And doing a very good job,” Maris replied evenly. She drummed up a smile. “The next event for the No Bull Ranch is going to be a horse auction at the end of September. I’ll be putting out signs and notices in the newspaper to advertise the sale in a few weeks.”

  “An auction, eh? Sounds like a good idea, Maris.” Judd paused briefly. “What happens after that?”

  Maris drew a breath. “Then Luke will be leaving and I’ll be back in the cattle business.”

  “He’ll be leaving?”

  “He’s only here to break my horses, Judd. I told you that.”

  “Yeah, guess you did.” Judd paused. “How about having supper out with me tonight?”