by Janet Dailey
The faintly mocking glitter in his eyes informed her that Seth knew why she was changing the subject. “They invited me to dinner Tuesday night. I mentioned that we had been together the previous night and that I’d read a couple pages of the manuscript you were typing without revealing that I had recognized their handwriting,” he explained. “They were so eager to find out my reaction that they confessed they had written it and asked what I thought.” His smile became more pronounced. “So they don’t think that you betrayed their secret.”
“I wondered,” she acknowledged.
“I also promised them I’d write a letter to some friends of mine in the publishing business and see what I could do to help them when it’s finished.” He let his hands come away from her arms and turned to look in the grocery sack. “Is there anything else in here that’s perishable?”
“No, I’ve already put those items away.” There were only some canned goods left.
“Then, let’s leave the rest and go on our picnic,” he stated.
“Okay.” Abbie had the feeling she would agree to almost anything he suggested.
Within minutes after leaving town, Seth turned off the main highway onto a graveled county road that twisted along the ridges and hollows. Abbie was completely lost, having no idea where they were going. She’d never done that much exploring of the countryside to be familiar with all the hill roads.
The August heat had seared the grasses a golden brown to intersperse the thickly forested hills with patches of bright color. Abbie turned her face into the blowing force of the wind generated by the sports car, kicking up plumes of dust on the graveled road.
An azure sky contained a scattering of powder-puff clouds, drifting slowly while the golden sun-ball blazed above the earth with its light. Overhead, a hawk circled, floating effortlessly on the air currents. They were riding on a ridgeback, the Ozark Mountains undulating into the distance like ocean waves.
There was a change in the powerful hum of the engine as Seth eased the pressure on the accelerator slowing the car. A fairly straight stretch of road lay before them with no roads branching off it. All Abbie could see was a short lane leading to the gate of a fenced field, but it appeared to be Seth’s destination as he braked the car to a slower speed to make the turn onto it. When the car was stopped, he switched off the engine, removing the sunglasses he’d been wearing.
“This is it,” he said with a glance at Abbie while he pushed his door open to step out.
Abbie looked at the gate and the sign tacked on the post that very plainly read: PRIVATE PROPERTY—Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. “We aren’t going into that field, are we?” She climbed out of the passenger side, but eyed Seth with a bewildered frown.
The nearly bald knoll had only a scattering of tall oak trees to shade its yellow grasses. There didn’t appear to be any animals grazing in the hill meadow, but the sign on the fence was very definite.
“Wait until you see the view,” Seth replied after he had issued an affirmative nod. He reached behind the driver’s seat and lifted out a wicker picnic basket. “Do you think you can carry this?”
“But there’s a no-trespassing sign on the gate,” Abbie pointed out as she took the basket from him and hooked her forearm under the handles. “We can’t go in there.”
“Yes, we can.” Seth removed a Styrofoam cooler from the car’s trunk and started walking to the gate. “This land belongs to my family.”
“Your family,” Abbie repeated with surprise. “I didn’t know you had any relation living around here.”
“I don’t.” He stopped at the gate and set the cooler on the ground. There was a padlock on the chain that circled the fence and gatepost. With a key from his pocket, Seth unlocked it and unwrapped the chain to let the gate sag open. “It’s a case of absentee ownership, an investment for possible development or resale in the future.”
“Oh.” But Abbie didn’t feel that she knew any more despite the enlightening remark.
“Careful you don’t trip on the wire,” Seth cautioned as she started to walk through the narrow opening. “I don’t want to be responsible for causing a personal injury lawsuit.”
It was said in jest but Abbie just wondered all the more. As she went through the gate she was close enough to read the small lettering at the bottom of the sign. The owner was identified as the Tal-bar Corporation. “The Tal-bar Corporation belongs to your family?” she asked when Seth followed her, leaving the gate open behind him.
“Yes. It’s a combination of Talbot and Barlow. Barlow was my grandmother’s maiden name, and her brother was one of the original partners with my grandfather,” he explained. “I thought we’d have our picnic under that oak tree over there.” Seth indicated the closest one with a nod of his head.
“Is it a big company?” Abbie suspected it was, since it had landholdings in the Ozarks.
“For a family-owned company, I’d say it’s fairly large, but it’s certainly not a major national corporation.” There was a dry amusement in his tone
“I guess your family mentioned they owned some land here when you were assigned to our church,” Abbie guessed.
“Actually I was here a few years when we originally bought this property, so I was a little familiar with the area before I obtained my transfer.”
“You aren’t active in your family’s company, are you?” Abbie frowned, automatically stopping under the tree when Seth did. She didn’t see how it was possible when he was a minister. Yet his remark about looking at the property seemed to indicate otherwise.
“My father insists that I remain on the board of directors to act as their conscience,” Seth admitted as he crouched down to set the cooler next to the tree. “There’s a small blanket in your basket. We can spread it on the ground.”
While she digested the information, Abbie opened the lid of the wicker basket and took out the square blanket lying on top of the plastic dishes. She shook it out and laid it out flat on the grass-stubbled ground. Kneeling on it, she began taking the dishes and utensils out of the basket. “I know it’s none of my business …” But she couldn’t help prying a little more into his personal affairs. “… but I have the feeling your father would have preferred that you had joined the company. …”
“Instead of becoming a minister?” Seth completed what she had left unsaid. There was a light shrug of his shoulders as he began taking out containers of assorted salads. “In the beginning, he was against the idea—until he was convinced that it was definitely what I wanted. I’ve had his full support and his blessing for several years now—as well as from the rest of my family.”
She was glad that Seth’s chosen profession had not created any friction between him and his family, but it sounded too trite to say so. The removal of the napkins and the salt and pepper shakers emptied the picnic basket. Abbie sat in the grass out of the way.
“We have here a private buffet.” Seth indicated the various uncovered containers arranged in a semicircle on the blanket. “Macaroni salad, potato salad, ambrosia, tomato aspic, cold roast chicken, ham, fresh fruit, cheese. There’s a couple things that I don’t know what they’re called.”
Abbie stared at the array of food. “You don’t expect us to eat all this?”
There was a wicked glint in his eye. “To tell you the truth, it was the quickest way to clean out my refrigerator. The ladies in the community have been more than generous about bringing me samples of their cooking.”
“Maybe they thought it was the way to win the favor of a bachelor minister,” Abbie suggested with a hint of a teasing smile.
“‘The way to a man’s heart…’” Seth followed her thinking and chuckled. “Unfortunately, they couldn’t know that I had already been tempted by a copper-haired girl on the road, who gave me fruit.” He paused a second to hold Abbie’s glance. “There are some who believe that it was the peach, not the apple, Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden.”
“Really,” she murmured, a little unnerved by the sensuality
of his look, so vibrant and alive with his male interest in her.
“Yes, really,” he mocked, and turned to reach inside the cooler. “Don’t you think you have what it takes to tempt me into sin?”
“Are you sure it’s not the other way around?” Abbie countered, matching his sexual banter and not letting him see how much it disturbed her.
There was a heartiness to his throaty chuckle. “I deserved that. You know the right way to put a man in his place, don’t you, Abbie?” Seth didn’t appear to expect an answer as he took a bottle of chilled wine from the cooler. “Now, this happens to come from my own private stock. It’s not a gift from anyone.”
Abbie looked at him askance. “Are you allowed to drink wine?”
There was patience in his strong face as he uncorked the bottle and splashed a small portion of wine in two glasses. “In the Book of Matthew, Jesus explains in chapter fifteen that it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles man, but what comes out of his mouth. ‘Whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart….’” he paused. “Anything in excess is not good for the body—sweets, fats, or alcohol.”
“That’s true,” she agreed, taking the glass he handed her.
“In biblical times, they drank wine with their meals because the water wasn’t potable, for the most part,” he added. “It was the fruit of the vine that Jesus gave to his disciples at the Last Supper. That’s hardly a justification for the consumption of alcohol. But there’s a vast difference between drinking and having an occasional glass of wine with a meal.”
“I agree.” Abbie swirled the rose-red liquid in her glass. “I wasn’t really criticizing you for bringing the wine.”
“Weren’t you?” It was a mild accusation.
“No, although it probably sounded like it,” she admitted with a rueful laugh.
“Sometimes I get the feeling you are more pious than I am,” Seth mocked. “No deviating from the straight and narrow.”
“I’ve never been very well acquainted with a minister—on a personal basis.” Abbie defended some of her preconceived notions. “So I don’t always know what to expect.”
“I have noticed.” He nodded, a faint smile touching the corners of his mouth. “Right now, you’re wondering if I’m going to say a blessing before we eat.”
“I was,” Abbie admitted on a note of bubbling laughter.
When Seth bowed his head, Abbie did, too. “We thank you, O Lord, for this bounty You have placed before us. And we pray that You will also feed the hunger of our hearts with the Grace of Your Love. Amen.”
“Amen,” she echoed softly, and lifted her head to glance at him in silent wonder, touched by the simple blessing.
“Shall we dig in?” Seth murmured, arching an eyebrow in her direction, and passed her the small bowl of potato salad.
Chapter Seven
Although Abbie had only taken a small sample of everything, there had been too many dishes. There was still some food left in her plate, but she didn’t have room for another bite.
“I think it’s a case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach.” She sighed and set her fork on the plate.
“There’s a lot of wildlife around here that will eat it, so it won’t go to waste.” Seth rolled to his feet. “If you’re finished, I’ll scrape your plate on that stump so the scraps won’t be attracting the flies around us.”
“I am finished.” Abbie handed him the plate.
While he walked to the tree stump about twenty yards away, she started putting the lids on the containers and returning them to the cooler so they wouldn’t spoil. When Seth came back, he lent a hand, stowing the dishes and silverware in the wicker basket. Once the blanket was cleared and shaken free of any crumbs, Abbie shifted to sit near the middle of it, leaning on her hands and stretching her legs out to ease the fullness of her stomach. Before she could guess his intention, Seth was lying down at right angles to her, with his head resting on her lap.
“Do you mind me using you for a pillow?” Seth looked up at her with deceptively innocent eyes, aware of asking permission after the fact.
“No.” But she did find it disturbingly intimate. Her senses were operating on an uneven keel with his head nestled against her thighs. The faded material of her jeans had been worn thin, providing a scant barrier for her sensitive skin.
“Good.” Seth closed his eyes and settled more comfortably in place, folding his hands across his chest in a gesture of contentment.
With his eyes shut, Abbie took the liberty of studying the irregular angles and planes of his strong face. There was power in the lift of his cheekbones and steady determination in the clean line of his jaw. His stubby lashes were dark and full, a shade darker than the brown of his eyebrows. There was a slight, crooked break in the line of his nose, and his mouth was well defined, neither too thin nor too full, and definitely masculine.
The dark, rumpled gold of his hair invited the smoothing touch of her fingers. Abbie curled them into the blanket to resist the urge to slide them through his hair. The body heat from his wide shoulders warmed the side of her hip and thigh and spread through the rest of her body. All sorts of dangerous thoughts were running through her mind when she let her glance stray to the even rise and fall of his chest. Starting a conversation seemed the wise thing to do.
“Where does your family live, Seth?” she asked.
A little frown creased his forehead. “Pillows aren’t supposed to talk,” he grunted.
Abbie laughed softly at that. “Well, this pillow does,” she retorted. “Where does your family live?”
He sighed in mock resignation. “My parents live in Denver.”
“Is that where the Tal-bar Corporation has its offices, too?”
“Yes.”
“How did the company get started?” she asked.
Seth opened one eye. “My, but you are full of questions.”
“How else do you learn anything?” Abbie reasoned with a small shrug.
“My grandfather and great-uncle started out as well drillers, then got into the oil and gas business, and backed into cattle ranching.”
“‘Backed’ into cattle ranching? How do you do that?” Abbie smiled at the phrase, finding it curious.
“My grandfather thought he was acquiring the mineral rights for federal land and found out he had actually obtained grazing rights instead. So he and my great-uncle turned a mistake into a business,” Seth explained. “The company also has some mining interest.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she wondered.
“A whole houseful.” He sat up unexpectedly, and turned toward Abbie, bracing a hand on the opposite side of her legs. “I have five sisters and three brothers. My parents believed in a large family. Do you like large families?”
“Yes.” Her answer was hesitant because she wasn’t sure what he meant by the question.
Seth took it a step farther. “How many children do you want when you get married?”
“That’s something … I’d have to discuss with my husband.” She had trouble breathing when he leaned closer. Her heart started fluttering against her ribs.
“What would you say …” He tipped his head to kiss the side of her throat. There was a wild, little leap of her pulse. “… if your husband wanted …” He turned his head to mouth the sensitive cord on the other side of her neck. “… a lot of children?”
So many other things were happening in reaction to his nuzzling kisses that Abbie almost forgot the question. “I think … I’d like the idea.” Tension knotted her throat until she couldn’t swallow. A moan trembled somewhere inside her, waiting to be released.
“And if he wanted to adopt some children …” His mouth grazed along her cheek, feathering her skin with the warmth of his breath. “… in addition to your own?”
“Why not?” she murmured, turning her head to end the tantalizing nearness of his mouth.
It moved onto her li
ps with a sureness of purpose, claiming them as if it had long been his right to do so. There was no resistance to its commanding pressure. Her lips parted willingly to deepen the kiss as his hand curved itself to her spine. A heady tide of feeling seemed to swamp her, and she reeled at the whirling mist of glorious sensation. She felt drunk with his kiss and wondered if it was the wine.
Then there was no room for thinking, only feeling. Abbie was weightless, floating in a mindless bliss. She wasn’t conscious of sinking backward onto the blanket, only that her hands no longer had to support her upright position and were now free to glide around his muscled shoulders and curl into the virile thickness of his hair.
Tiny little moans of pleasure came from her throat when he nibbled sensually at her earlobe and made an intimate study of her neck and throat. The hard contours of his body pressed their male shape onto her flesh while the stroking caress of his hands wandered over her.
Desire seemed a natural extension of all the raw emotion his embrace was disclosing to her. It was the purest form of passion she’d ever know, and the beauty of it swelled her heart until she ached for him. The need inside her strained to be released.
His hand glided smoothly across her ribs, nearing the heated fullness of her breasts. The sensation of skin against skin suddenly shocked her into an awareness of how far out of control she’d gone. Her blouse had fallen loose, the old material stretching to release the lower buttons.
With a stifled moan of panic at what he must be thinking of her, Abbie wiggled from under him and scrambled to her feet. Her breath came thickly as she quickly turned her back to avoid his stunned and frowning look.
“Abbie?” His voice was low and husky.
“I’m sorry.” She quickly began stuffing her blouse inside the waistband of her jeans, a task made difficult by her shaking hands. She heard him stand up. “I don’t know what got into me,” she insisted. “It must have been those two glasses of wine.”