When Alex hesitantly put her hand on his arm, he escorted them into the parlor, then released them to push the furniture against the walls. Travis returned a moment later, handed a couple of tapes to Claire, then bent to help Hank move the heavy couch. By the time the dance floor was clear, Claire had found a lively tune on one of Travis’s tapes. Hank bowed formally to his sister, then swung her around the room.
Alex watched them with hungry eyes, just before trying to slip out. No matter what they said, this was a family affair, and she didn’t belong. She swallowed the lump rising in her throat. Would she ever belong anywhere?
Travis caught her hand. “You weren’t thinking of leaving, were you?”
“I...I was just going to check on Sugar. He’s—”
“Fine,” he finished. “So you’re going to dance.”
“But I—”
“No excuses.” Travis changed grips on the hand he’d captured and slipped an arm around her waist.
She shook her head. “But I don’t know how.”
“You can’t do the two-step?” Travis gave her a disbelieving look. “Every five-year-old in Wyoming can do the two-step.”
Alex turned her head to see Hank spin Claire under his arm. “Well, I’m a lot older than five and I can’t. So let go please.”
He shook his head. “Nope. It’s my patriotic duty to teach you. It’s simple. Only two steps. Watch Hank and Claire for a minute. Okay, you two, enough fancy stuff. Do the basic steps so Alex can see. Look—slow step, slow step, quick step, quick step.”
“It’s easy, Alex.” Claire laughed as Hank twirled her. “And fun!”
Travis positioned his arms. “Come on, let’s try. You go back, I go forward. I start with my left foot, you with the right. Now.”
Alex was grateful that Travis went slow because she had to count each step and look at her feet every fourth one. They made a slow circle around the room while Claire and Hank swirled around them, watching and calling encouragement. Knowing three pairs of eyes stayed on her made concentrating twice as hard.
“They’re not doing the same dance we’re doing,” Alex said after Hank pulled Claire around until they were both dancing forward, their arms entwined.
“Yes, they are,” Travis told her. “They’re just adding some spark to it. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to do the same thing.”
“Right. That’ll be when chickens flour themselves and jump in the frying pan.”
Travis laughed. “You’re not doing bad.”
“I hope your toes say that tomorrow. Thank goodness the song’s over.”
Travis caught her as she tried to escape. “Where are you going?”
“I danced, didn’t I?”
“But now we change partners.” He put her hand in Hank’s and took Claire’s, all in one fluid motion.
That quickly, Alex stood within the circle of Hank’s arm. Shock kept her still, as warmth swept through her.
“Have fun,” Claire told her as another up-tempo song began. “Hank’s a better teacher than Travis.”
Travis swept her away. “That’s loyalty for you.”
“Well, he is.” Claire looked up into his handsome face adoringly. “But you’re a better dancer.”
Travis grinned down at his sister, and Alex pulled her eyes away from their happy faces.
“You ready?” Hank asked quietly. “Remember to start with your right foot.”
Hank stepped forward a second before Alex stepped back. His boot toe barely missed her shin as he lurched forward, catching her against him.
Alex tried to pull away. “I can’t dance.”
Hank wouldn’t let her escape. “That was my fault, Alex. I’m sorry. Let’s try it again, okay? Look at me.” He held her until she met his gaze. “Okay?”
She dropped her eyes to the third snap on his shirt and nodded miserably. She felt like a cow in a roomful of ballerinas.
He loosened his hold. “Ready? Now.”
They stepped in unison this time and Hank guided her around the room. Novice that she was, she still had to count and look at. her feet. The third time she looked down Hank tightened his hold. She gasped softly as he fit their bodies so close together that she was stepping between his feet and he was stepping between hers.
“Don’t,” she breathed.
“You were looking at your feet.”
“So?”
“You’ll never learn to dance that way,” he whispered next to her ear. “Close your eyes. Listen to the music. Feel me move. Don’t worry. I won’t let you bump into anything. Just move with me.”
Alex had no choice but to comply. Her eyes wouldn’t stay open as his warm breath tickled her ear, burning every thought from her brain. With her vision gone, other senses became acute. With every breath she inhaled Hank’s light musky odor mixed with the even fainter smells of coffee and soap. His deep voice whispered soft words of encouragement. The music poured into her ears and went directly to her muscles, making them move with the rhythm. She could feel Hank from the beard scraping her forehead to the sculptured planes of his chest to the steely strength of his thighs moving against hers.
At that moment in time, Hank became her universe. Nothing else existed.
The song ended, but Hank kept on dancing. Alex was vaguely aware of Travis and Claire moving away, but she didn’t want to open her eyes and break the enchantment. Hank wove a spell so drugging that it lasted the few seconds until the next song began. He adjusted their steps to the slower beat and began humming the tune. The deep sound reverberated through her, hypnotizing her, dragging her deeper into the depths of desire.
Another song began and ended, then another. Still they danced. Alex still heedless of time or company. Heedless of everything but the warmth that surrounded her, the comfort of the strong arms that guided her as she floated around the floor.
Finally the tape ended with a solid click. By slow degrees, Alex became aware of the silence that surrounded them. They were alone. Travis and Claire had left. But Alex didn’t care. The music still echoed in her mind, and warm strength still surrounded her.
She vaguely remembered that there was some reason why she shouldn’t be where she was, but she pushed that away, too. The only thought that mattered at that moment was the overwhelming sense that she was precisely where she belonged.
“You’re a quick learner,” Hank whispered.
Alex moaned softly, sad to realize the moment was about to end, that reality was about to intrude. In an effort to keep reality at bay, she rubbed her cheek against the soft chambray of his shirt and whispered, “You make it easy.”
Hank moaned, too, and pulled her tighter against him. As he did, she realized that at some point he’d slipped both arms around her.
“Alex, look at me.”
She shook her head, ignoring his quiet command. “Can’t we stay like this for a while?”
With another moan, he brushed her hair from her neck and placed his lips in the hollow just below her ear. “Do you like being close to me?”
“Mmm.”
He released a deep, ragged breath. “I like being close to you, too.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
Alex knew something was wrong with that statement, but couldn’t waken enough brain cells to analyze it.
“Alex?”
“Hmm?”
“I want to kiss you.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“Will it be nice, too?”
He groaned. “It will be even nicer.”
By slow degrees, Alex levered her head so she could see him. His dark face hovered so close above her own she could barely focus on his features.
Before she could say anything else, his lips touched hers. The word nice flew from her head and other, more sensual terms replaced it—all having to do with heat—searing, burning, scorching.
The warm lassitude accompanying their dance fell away, replaced by a fervent desire to burn him as fiercely
as he was burning her. She dug her hands into the short spikes of his hair, pulling his lips close enough for them to meld.
“Damn, Alex,” he breathed against her mouth. “I never thought—”
His tongue traced her lips, then slipped inside. Alex felt the impact in her toes as wave after sensual wave cascaded down her body. With a moan coming from deep in her throat, she touched her tongue to his. His hands dropped down to her bottom and pushed her against a hard, pulsing ridge.
Alex froze as reality finally flooded back.
“Stop!” she cried, ripping her mouth from his. Hot tears stung her eyes as she tried to pull from his embrace. “We can’t.”
Lost in his own sensual fog that had thickened considerably since they stopped dancing, Hank reflexively held on to Alex, despite her struggles. She’d changed so quickly from a warm, wonderful armful that it took a moment for his dazed mind to realize what had happened.
“What’s wrong?”
“Let me go!” she cried. “I can’t do this.”
Struck dumb by her tears, he let her go. She ran down the hall, and a moment later the screen door at the back slammed shut.
Raking fingers through his hair, he fell back. Instead of hitting the chair usually there, he sat hard on the coffee table, but he was beyond caring.
What the hell just happened? What started out as a celebration of Claire’s womanhood had ended up as a seduction of Alex.
No, that wasn’t true. Alex had been a willing partner in everything, up until the last moment when he...when he what?
When he showed her exactly how much he wanted her.
Damn.
And damn Travis, too. During the third song, his brother pulled Claire out of the parlor with a broad wink. At that particular moment. Hank had been so enmeshed in Alex’s spell that Travis’s scheme barely registered. Now he could cheerfully put his fist through his brother’s smiling face.
Hank shook his head. It wasn’t Travis’s fault, it was his. If he hadn’t told Travis he was attracted to Alex, this wouldn’t have happened.
But it had happened, and somehow Hank couldn’t bring himself to be sorry. Hell, all he’d done was kiss her. What was so wrong with that? Eyes narrowed, he looked at the door Alex had escaped through. She’d certainly found something wrong with it, and he intended to find out what.
Chapter Seven
Hank found Alex easily, sitting on top of the corral fence, staring at the full moon and shivering in the cool night air. He knew the moment she realized he was coming because she stiffened, then pulled her heels from the third rail as if about to jump down.
“You might as well stay right there,” he called. “Because I’m coming after you. You can run all the way back to Alabama, but you’ll feel me breathing down your neck.”
She didn’t say anything until he stood at the fence.
“Just leave me alone.”
“Hell, no.” He climbed up and straddled the top rail, facing her. The moonlight bathed her face with an ivory light that traced the path of a tear. His voice softened. “What did I do wrong? Kiss you?”
“Yes!”
“I asked, remember?”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“Not with your lips, but every other part of you was screaming yes.”
Her wince admitted she knew he was right.
“Are you saying you didn’t want me to kiss you?” he asked.
For a moment she looked like she would deny she’d wanted his kiss, but she didn’t say anything.
“You can’t say it, because it isn’t true.”
“I didn’t!”
“Don’t lie to me,” he said softly. “I was on the receiving end, remember? You pulled me closer, wanting more.”
With a choked sound, she leaned over until her head rested on her knees. “No, it isn’t true! It can’t be.”
Wanting to comfort her, Hank stretched a hand over her back. But he stopped short of touching her. “Why not? What’s wrong? Tell me.”
“I’m leaving, that’s what wrong. I have to go to San Francisco. That job is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If I don’t go now, I’ll never get another chance. Then I’d never be able to open my own restaurant. Then I’d never have...”
“Never have what?” he prodded gently.
She looked at him with tortured eyes, making him ache to draw her into his arms. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
She shook her head vehemently. “How could you? The Garden has been here for you and your family for a hundred years. Even when you left it to rodeo, you always knew you could come home, that there was someone here who cared about you, who gave a damn whether you rode your bronc or if it trampled you in the dirt.”
Suddenly everything became crystal clear. Her mother dying, the orphanage, drifting from place to place—she needed a home, a family.
She needed exactly what he couldn’t give her.
A few months from now, the home she thought so permanent would belong to someone else—probably would be bulldozed to make way for a new subdivision. Even if he didn’t want to return to the rodeo, he’d have to sell the ranch sooner or later. The ledger didn’t lie.
Pain swept through him, so sharp and deep it nearly knocked him from the fence. He wanted to be the one to give her what she needed. He wanted to be the man she kissed goodbye every morning and hello every evening. He wanted to sit on the swing with her in the crook of his arm and watch the sun go down. He wanted to sleep with her at night, to help her deliver their children, to grow old with her. But he couldn’t.
The realization he’d had earlier hit him again. He was damned if he got close to Alex, and damned if he didn’t.
So—if he was damned, anyway, why not take Claire’s advice and make the most of the time he and Alex had? The reality of her going couldn’t hurt any worse than the thought of it did right now.
Very slowly, as if he were approaching a skittish mare, Hank reached over and pushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “I know you’re leaving. I understand. Believe me, I do. But damn it, Alex, I don’t want you to be afraid of me.”
Her arms crossed over her midriff. “I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of the way you make me feel. I can’t start any kind of romance with you. If I do, I might never go to San Francisco. And that’s something I’ll regret the rest of my life.”
Hank searched her eyes in the moonlight. “And if I let you go without finding out what this is between us, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
He didn’t realize he’d said it out loud until her eyes widened. The words scared him almost as much as they scared her, but he’d be damned if he’d take them back. He scooted closer. “Look at me. Please... Alex darlin’, I can’t promise you anything—certainly not forever. All I know is that I’ve never felt this way about any other woman.”
She stared at him until he thought he’d start howling at the moon. Finally she asked, “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I want to spend time getting to know you, letting you get to know me.” He reached out and placed his hand over hers. He was gratified when she didn’t pull away. “Be my date at the rodeo this weekend.”
She stared at him a long minute, then shook her head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I’m leaving in two and a half weeks, Hank. I have to do this.”
“I know. I’m not asking for a lifetime commitment. Just a date. We’ll have a few laughs. I’ll hold your hand, buy you a barbecue supper and claim all your dances at the hoedown after the rodeo.”
She pursed her lips and shook her head again. “No. We shouldn’t.”
Hank’s hand tightened in frustration, but he kept his voice low and calm. “Can you honestly say you could leave now with no regrets? Without ever wondering what it would be like to kiss me?”
“I know what it’s like to kiss you,” she said in husky tones. “That’s what started all this, reme
mber?”
“Can you tell me you don’t want to do it again?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
She quickly looked way. “Damn your cowboy hide.”
Heat surged through him, making him want to drag her back into his arms. But knowing he had to tread carefully, he ignored it.
“When I was ten, just starting out in rodeo, I’d drawn a bucking horse that nobody but the best professional cowboys had ridden. That mare bucked off every kid that I knew, and hurt a lot of them, one real bad. Anyway, I was going to draw out. I didn’t want to get hurt bad enough that I couldn’t rodeo anymore. One old hand, Tex McQuire, came up beside me as I was standing by the pens, staring at that rank old mare. He asked why I wasn’t going to ride. I told him I didn’t want to be sorry the next day. To make a long story short, he made me realize that I’d be sorry if I didn’t ride her. I ended up climbing on the back of that old mare, and I made the whistle.
“That’s how I’ve lived my life ever since. If I know I’m going to be sorry anyway, I want it to be for something I’ve done, not for something I didn’t do. Do you understand what I’m saying? Since we’re going to be sorry whether or not we spend time together, why not make some memories to soften the blow?” He laced his fingers through hers. “Go with me this weekend.”
“I’m already going.”
“Go as my date. There’ll be lots of people there. You’ll be as safe as a chick in the nest. And we’ll have Claire and Travis to chaperone. But I want the right to hold your hand...like this. I want to put my arm around your waist...like this.” He drew her against him. “I want the right to kiss you good-night.”
Alex slowly relaxed against him. “Damn you, Hank Eden. How can I resist you when you say things like that?” She released a long, miserable sigh. “But I have a feeling we’re going to regret it.”
Damned or damned? With Alex in his arms, the choice seemed a lifetime away.
Claire and Alex arrived in Lander, hauling an empty horse trailer behind Hank’s red pickup. The brothers had left several hours before them so they could pay their entry fees and settle down their horses after the two-hour ride. They went separately because Travis wouldn’t be going back to the Garden. He planned to spend the night in Lander and head for Texas the next morning.
Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1) Page 11