To a Macallister Born

by Joan Elliott Pickart

  Of course, nothing about her reactions to Jack MacAllister were even close to normal. Heavens, no. The sensual impact he continually had on her was absurd. Her incredible awareness of him was borderline insane, as was the quickening of her pulse each time he smiled that devastating smile of his.

  And at the top of the This Is Nuts list was the fact that she’d returned his kisses with such heated abandon that the mere memory brought a flush to her cheeks.

  Jack MacAllister was dangerous. Unsettling. Upsetting. Magnificent.

  Oh, Jennifer, shut up, she admonished herself.

  Jack chuckled suddenly, and Jennifer looked over at him questioningly.

  “Groom guy, huh?” he said. “According to Joey, all it takes to be a husband is a suit and tie.”

  “Ah, the innocence of a child,” Jennifer said, then sighed. “What a shame that Joey will have to travel the rocky road of adulthood. I’d like to wrap him in a cocoon and protect him forever, but I can’t.”

  “No, you can’t. Some people have rockier roads than others. Maybe Joey will be one of the lucky guys.”

  “I hope so. At least there are some tough truths I can keep from hurting him.”

  “Such as?”

  “Oh, just…things. Here’s my house. Do you want another cinnamon roll and cup of coffee?” Great, Jennifer thought, shaking her head in self-disgust. What had happened to making it clear that she didn’t want to spend any more time with Mr. MacAllister?

  “Sure. Thanks. Then I’ll be on my way so you can get some sleep.”

  Jack followed Jennifer up the front walk leading to the porch. What truths was Jennifer determined to protect Joey from? he wondered. It hadn’t been an idle statement on her part, because there had been a fierceness to her voice when she’d said it. She’d then avoided answering his question as to what she meant.

  The lady had secrets.

  Oh, yes, she was intriguing as well as desirable. There were many layers to Jennifer Mackane. She was like a mysterious, alluring package, waiting to be unwrapped to reveal what was within.

  And for some unexplainable reason, he knew he wouldn’t rest until he’d discovered who Jennifer Mackane really was.

  Chapter Five

  Jennifer cleaned up the kitchen after breakfast, while Jack treated himself to another cinnamon roll and a mug of hot coffee. He chatted about how he would be drawing the plans for Brandon and Andrea’s dream house while he was staying in Prescott.

  The couple had purchased a piece of land, he said, and had a contractor ready to get started. If the weather cooperated, the home could very well be completed by the time the Hamilton baby arrived in March.

  Jennifer sank into the chair across from Jack, a dishcloth in one hand. “A new baby and a new home at the same time,” she said wistfully. “Isn’t that wonderful? Brandon and Andrea must be pinching themselves in an attempt to believe it’s all true.” She sighed. “Goodness.”

  “They’re excited, all right,” Jack said, nodding. “Now Brandon is bugging Andrea to decide on a name for their daughter.”

  “They know they’re having a girl?” Jennifer said. “I wasn’t aware of that. I thought Andrea had decided not to have an ultrasound.”

  “Ah, madam,” Jack said, smiling, “you don’t know the history of the MacAllister baby bet business. Brandon and Andrea qualify because they’re close friends of yours truly—a MacAllister.

  “Besides that, I have a cousin named Andrea over in California. Andrea MacAllister Stewart, to be precise, who is married to John. They have two sets of twins—Matt and Noel, and Jeff and Kate.”

  “My stars, they’re busy parents.”

  “Yep. Anyway, Andrea Hamilton doesn’t need a fancy test to determine if she is having a boy or a girl, because Brandon said a daughter is on the way, and so says the baby bet. It’s a given.”

  “Wait, wait,” Jennifer said, laughing. “I don’t want to miss one word of this.” She wiped up the table where Joey had been sitting, went to the sink to rinse out the cloth, then plunked back into the chair. “Okay, I’m ready. What’s the scoop on the baby bet?”

  Jack explained the famous MacAllister baby bet as Jennifer listened in delight.

  “Such fun,” she said, when he’d finished his tale. “It must be marvelous to be part of such a big family.”

  Jack nodded. “We sure had a lot of good times while we were growing up. I’ve been away for years living in New York, and I’m looking forward to being involved with the clan again.

  “My folks retired to Florida, but they’re flying in for the enormous MacAllister reunion that’s being held at Christmas. That is going to be a zoo. Kids will be coming out of the woodwork.”

  “Super.” Jennifer paused. “Well, you made a believer out of me. I’ll buy some pink yarn and knit a blanket for baby girl Hamilton. I wonder what name Andrea and Brandon will pick for their daughter?”

  “I don’t know,” Jack said, “but I hope between that project and the long list of decisions regarding the new house, they’ll forget about the dumb bachelor bet nonsense they’re talking about.”

  “This gets better and better,” Jennifer said, laughing. “What’s the bachelor bet?”

  “Well, see, Brandon was a confirmed bachelor, as were your friends Ben and Taylor.”

  “They’re all married now.”

  “Exactly,” Jack said, nodding. “Brandon is yapping his head off about a bachelor bet, saying that I won’t last at being footloose and fancy-free, and nor will my brother, Richard. There’s someone else, too…Oh, yeah, the sheriff here in Prescott.”

  “Cable Montana?” Jennifer said. “The women in town are swooning over him, but as far as I know, he hasn’t dated anyone since he moved here.” She laughed. “Let me guess—Aunt Charity said she wanted in on the bachelor bet.”

  “Got it in one,” he said, laughing with her. “She was rubbing her hands together, anticipating her winnings. Crazy people. What they haven’t figured out yet is how old we have to be—and still single—before we can collect our money from them.”

  “What a hoot,” Jennifer said.

  She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms beneath her breasts.

  “So, you’re a confirmed bachelor, huh?”

  “In spades.”

  “Why?” she said, smiling and raising her eyebrows.

  Jack chuckled. “Why? You sound like Joey.”

  “I guess I do,” she said, her smile fading. “Well, forget I asked, because it’s none of my business. I don’t intend to ever remarry, but I don’t wish to get into a lengthy discussion as to why I feel that way.”

  “I assume you’re still mourning your husband, Joey’s father.”

  Jennifer shrugged.

  Jack leaned toward her. “I said it before and I’ll say it again, Jennifer. Five years is enough—too long, in fact, to grieve for a man, for what once was. It’s time to move on with your life. I realize that I’m overstepping here, but, damn it, Joey wants a father. Don’t you yearn for a special man in your life?”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I don’t.”

  “Damn,” he said. “You’re one stubborn lady. You’re making a tremendous mistake.”

  “Oh? I do believe there is a double standard in effect here, Mr. MacAllister. It’s apparently perfectly acceptable for you to be a confirmed bachelor, for reasons known only to yourself. But I’m making a big mistake by taking the same stance?”

  “That’s different,” he said, frowning.

  “Aha,” Jennifer said, pointing a finger in the air. “One set of rules for men, another for women? Your mind-set is from the wrong century, Jack.”

  “You have a son to think about,” he said, his voice rising.

  “So I should marry the first thing that comes along in a pair of pants so Joey will have a father?” she said, matching his volume. “Not in this lifetime, mister.”

  They glared at each other for several long moments, then Jack smiled.

  “What?” Jennife
r said, still glowering at him.

  “Who’s going to be the groom guy in the suit and tie—the daddy bear—if you don’t adjust your attitude?”

  “Oh, good grief,” she said, laughing in spite of herself. “This is so ridiculous. We’re arguing like people who have known each other for a long time, when the truth of the matter is, we hardly know each other.”

  “Don’t we?” Jack said seriously, his voice very low, very rumbly, and very, very male.

  A whisper of heat slithered through Jennifer, and her smile disappeared. She was pinned in place by the sound of Jack’s voice and the compelling depths of his chocolate-fudge-sauce eyes.

  Memories of the kisses shared with him rushed over her. Her heart began to beat in a wild tempo, and the heat began to pulse low in her body.

  Heaven help her, she thought frantically. She wanted this man with an intensity that was so frightening, it was like nothing she’d experienced in her entire life. She couldn’t move, could hardly breathe and—

  No.

  She tore her gaze from Jack’s and drew a trembling breath. She started to rise, praying her legs would support her, but Jack trapped one of her hands under one of his on top of the table.

  “Jennifer, don’t run from me,” he said, his voice slightly husky. “Don’t run from me, or from whatever it is that’s happening between us. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

  Jennifer snapped her head up to look at him again, her green eyes flashing. She pulled her hand away from beneath his.

  “Oh, really?” she said, an edge to her voice. “What a joke. You’re passing through town. You see me as a challenge because I’m not falling all over you like your city women. So, what the heck, you’ll keep after me until you get me into bed to satisfy your male ego and fill your idle hours, then go merrily on your way. But you would never do anything to hurt me? Give me a break, Jack.”

  Jack’s jaw tightened slightly with anger and he narrowed his eyes. “I don’t deserve that,” he said. “You’re making very unfair assumptions about me that aren’t even close to being true.”

  He paused, then frowned as he studied her for a long moment.

  “You’re acting like a woman who has been…betrayed, terribly hurt, rather than like a widow grieving for the loss of perfection she had with her husband, the father of her son.”

  “That’s enough,” Jennifer said, getting to her feet. “Now you’re the one who is making assumptions.”

  Jack rose, met Jennifer as she came around the table, and gripped her shoulders. “Jennifer, wait a minute,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to argue with you. Let’s back up. Okay?”

  “Good idea,” she said coolly. “We’ll rewind this video to before you stood on the sidewalk staring at my house, then rewrite the script so that you walked down a different block and didn’t have dinner at Hamilton House last night. Therefore, we never met.”

  “I wasn’t thinking of reversing this scenario that far,” he said, smiling. “You just erased me.”

  “Yep,” she said, appearing quite pleased with herself. “I certainly did. Goodbye.”

  “Ah, but you’re forgetting something,” he said, his smile broadening. “It is a well-known fact that men in this country have a strange need to monopolize the remote control. It’s in our genes or something. Therefore, I’m the one who decides where to halt this flick.”

  “Oh?”

  “Indeed. I’ve pushed the button, and we are now back to last night in your living room and…Enough said.”

  Jack lowered his head and captured Jennifer’s lips in a searing kiss that stole the very breath from her body.

  No, no, no, she thought. But…Oh, dear heaven, yes, yes, yes.

  She encircled Jack’s neck with her arms and stepped into his embrace as he dropped his hands from her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her. He deepened the kiss even more, parting her lips, finding her tongue with his own.

  Ah, Jennifer, Jack thought. It had been too long since he’d kissed her, an eternity since he’d been able to savor her sweet taste and aroma, the feel of her slender body pressed to his.

  He’d never get enough of this woman; he needed, wanted more, much more. He was succumbing—very willingly at the moment—to the spell Jennifer was weaving over, around and through him.

  He ached with the heated desire to make love with Jennifer Mackane.

  Jack ended the kiss slowly, reluctantly, then sifted the fingers of one hand through Jennifer’s silken hair as she rested her head on his chest.

  They stood there, waiting for hearts to quiet and breathing to return to normal. They simply stood there, each lost in private, jumbled, sensual thoughts.

  Then Jennifer sighed a sad-sounding sigh, a weary sigh that held the echo of tears.

  “I can’t do this,” she whispered, still not moving. “I can’t just listen to the needs of my body and ignore my emotions. I can’t, Jack.”

  “I understand,” he said, his voice hushed. “I won’t push you, Jennifer, nor ask more of you than you’re capable of giving. But I sincerely mean it when I say I want to know what’s happening between us.”

  “Why is it so important to you?”

  “I don’t know. I guess because I’ve never felt, experienced, anything like this before. It’s so different, so…I want answers.”

  “I don’t.”

  “What are you afraid of, Jennifer?”

  She sighed again. “Wakening what I’ve put so firmly to sleep…the essence of my femininity and all the wants and needs and driving, reckless actions that overpowering passion can result in. I can’t. I won’t.”

  “All right,” he said, nodding slowly. “We have different agendas. I want the answers, you don’t. You’re in control of your—what did you call it?—the essence of your femininity. Okay. That’s fine. You’ll make certain that what is slumbering within you stays deeply asleep, no matter what I do or say. Am I getting this the way it is?”

  “I, well…Yes.”

  He eased her away from him, and she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

  “So, if I spent time with you,” Jack went on, “in order to find my answers, to set things to rights within myself, it wouldn’t upset you, hurt you in any way, because you have a firm handle on where you’re coming from.”

  “Well, I don’t know if—”

  “Makes sense to me.” He paused and nodded. “Sure, this is fine. So, I have a proposition for you.”

  Jennifer’s eyes widened. “You what?”

  “I’m not propositioning you in the way you’re thinking,” he said, taking a step backward and shoving his hands into his pockets. “What I’m hereby proposing to you will fall within the guidelines of what we’ve each determined to be where we are.”

  “You’re losing me,” Jennifer said, frowning.

  “I need to spend time with you before I end up nuttier than a fruitcake trying to figure out why you’re capable of weaving spells over me.”

  “I weave spells over you?” she said, splaying one hand on her chest.

  “Big time. For all I know, it’s a flash in the pan, and will burn itself out and be gone, kaput. I’ll be back to normal. You’ll be dandy while I’m hanging around because you’ve already cemented your program.”

  “Huh?”

  “Hence, my proposition,” he said. “This is one dynamite house that you live in.”

  “Now we’re talking about my house?” Jennifer said, her voice rising. “I can’t keep up with you.”

  “Pay attention. This house needs repairs, and my hands are itching to work on a historical structure like this one. You buy the supplies, I’ll be the labor—free of charge.”

  “Oh, I don’t think—”

  “Good. Don’t think it to death. Just agree. It’s a win-win situation. I’ll figure out why you’ve blitzed my mind and body, your house gets some tender lovin’ care, and you’re perfectly safe through the whole bit because your essence is asleep, or whatever. Get it?”

 
“Not really,” she said, shaking her head slightly.

  “Well, you’re tired,” Jack said. “Once you’ve rested, you’ll understand the whole deal. I’ll shove off so you can get to bed. We’ll connect later so I can really have a go at examining this house. Then we’ll decide which repairs have priority.” He moved forward and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “See you later.”

  Jack grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair in which he’d been sitting, then strode from the room.

  Jennifer blinked, then frowned. That man, she thought, was like a steamroller operating at maximum speed. Had she just agreed to allow Jack to make much-needed repairs on her home? No, she certainly had not. Had she?

  Jennifer sank back into her chair, the fingertips of one hand floating up to rest on her lips.

  Oh, mercy, kissing Jack was wonderful. He made her feel so vibrantly alive, so womanly and desirable. She couldn’t think rationally when he kissed her. She could only feel, savor—want more and more and more.

  “Jennifer Mackane,” she said with a sigh, “you are treading in dangerous territory. What on earth are you doing?”

  Well, she was grabbing a handful of…life. She was allowing her femininity to awaken and glory in its existence. She was filling her senses to overflowing with the taste, feel and exquisite male aroma of Jack.

  And that was really, really dumb.

  Jennifer plunked one elbow on the table and rested her chin in the palm of her hand. Well, maybe not really dumb, just borderline dopey.

  Jack seemed to have a better handle on where she was than she did. He’d spelled it all out for her—how she couldn’t be hurt by spending time with him because she was in control.

  What was wakening within her, she could put back to sleep when she chose to do so.

  That made sense. That was true. And that meant she could spend time with Jack, be held in his arms, be kissed by him, then bid him a breezy adieu when he left Prescott for his new life in California.

  Kissed, she thought dreamily. Held in those strong, yet gentle arms. Make sweet, sweet love through the night with Jack MacAllister.