To her, the sheer size of the event was daunting without even taking into account the importance of some of the guests. Her ex-husband would have had whiplash from looking this way and that to be sure he didn’t miss anybody. The fancy New York parties they’d attended had been nothing compared to this assembly of Texas’s rich and powerful.
“A little daunting, isn’t it?” Jessie inquired, magically appearing by her side just when Janet was beginning to feel exactly that way.
“It’s second nature to him, isn’t it?” she replied, watching the ease with which Harlan escorted the governor from cluster to cluster. As many parties as she’d been to, she’d never been entirely comfortable with the small talk required.
“You wouldn’t have thought that, if you’d seen him earlier,” Jessie revealed. “He was like a kid throwing his first party and terrified nobody would come. Of course, in his case, I think you’re the only guest he’s been really worried about.”
Janet couldn’t get over the idea that Harlan might have suffered a bad case of stage fright. “He was nervous?” she asked incredulously.
Jessie nodded. “Because of you. He really wanted tonight to be special for you.” She studied Janet intently. “Are you two involved? I mean, happily-ever-after involved.”
Janet evaded a direct answer by asking a question of her own, “What does he say?”
“Not a darn thing, really. It’s driving all of us crazy.” She grinned. “I figure it serves Luke and his brothers right. On the other hand, I want to be in on the secret.”
“There is no secret,” Janet assured her.
Jessie’s expression turned serious. “If he asks you to marry him, what will you say?”
Janet swallowed hard. It was clear that Jessie felt her question wasn’t nearly as premature as Janet hoped it was. “I can’t answer that,” she said. To soften the response, she added, “And even if I could, you’re not the one I’d be telling. Harlan would be the first to have an answer.”
Jessie nodded approvingly. “Good. Now I know that all the bullying from these Adams men won’t force you into a corner.” She grinned. “It takes a strong woman to put up with them. I think you’ll do just fine.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Janet said. “But sometimes trying to say no to Harlan is like swimming in quicksand.”
“You ever need a lifeline, just let me know,” Jessie offered. “The same with Kelly or Melissa. We’ve all been there.” She glanced up and caught sight of Harlan approaching with the governor at the same time Janet did. “Whoops, I’m out of here. I voted for his opponent. I’d hate to have to admit that in front of Harlan.”
Janet was still chuckling when Harlan reached her. She acknowledged the introduction to the governor and his wife with a smile and sufficient small talk to cover her nervousness. Fortunately, the band struck up a slower tune just then.
“That’s my cue,” the governor said, beaming at his wife. “Shall we?” As they headed for the dance floor, he said, “Call my office next week. I’d like to talk with you a bit about your interest in Native American affairs.”
Janet stared after him openmouthed. “How did he know about that?”
Harlan shrugged. “I might have mentioned it. All that talk about Lone Wolf and his ancestors led me to think you might have a particular interest in the subject.”
As if he thought he might have already said too much, he glanced toward the crowded dance floor that had been set up under the stars. “How about it? You willing to risk a turn around the floor with me?”
The request didn’t give her time to wonder how a few comments about Lone Wolf had led Harlan to guess how deep her interest in Native Americans ran. Before she could even form a question, she was in his arms and they were swaying to the soft music.
The feel of his body pressed against hers made every inch of her flesh tingle. With her head tucked against his shoulder, she felt warm and secure and desired. His heat surrounded her, making her senses swim.
Suddenly she was no longer aware of anything but the provocative rhythm of the music and the feel of his muscles playing against her own. She could hear the steady sound of his heart pounding, feel the quickening of his pulse. A desperate hunger began to build deep inside her, a hunger that was clearly matched in the man who held her so tightly.
“You’ll stay the night?” he asked out of the blue, his gaze searching hers.
“Jenny,” she said, unable to manage another single word.
He nodded his understanding of her concern. “Not to worry. I’ll speak to Cody. Melissa will think up an excuse to have her baby-sit. Will that do?”
“Yes,” she whispered, sighing as she settled her head against his shoulder. She was grateful for his consideration, anxious to get this entire crowd on its way before she had time for second thoughts.
He leaned back and gazed down at her. “You want me to send everybody packing as badly as I want to do it?” he inquired, a teasing glint in his eyes.
“Yes,” she admitted. “Isn’t that terrible, especially when you’ve gone to all this trouble?”
“Wanting it isn’t so bad,” he claimed. “We’ll just have to think of it as a test of character that we don’t act on it.” He winked at her. “Besides, a little anticipation isn’t all bad. It’ll just make the rest of the night all the sweeter.”
Janet regarded him skeptically. It seemed to her the next few hours were going to be the longest of her entire life. And if Harlan had a brain in his head, he wouldn’t give her anywhere near that long to reconsider the decision she’d just reached in the provocative circle of his arms.
He leaned down then to whisper in her ear. “Don’t look so impatient, darlin’. You’ll be giving folks ideas about what’s on your mind.”
“No question about that,” Luke said impudently as he tapped his father on the shoulder. “I’m cutting in before you two make a spectacle of yourselves.”
“Go away,” Harlan said, refusing to release her.
Janet chuckled as the two of them stared each other down. “I think Luke has the right idea,” she said, slipping out of Harlan’s embrace. “Go dance with somebody else for a while.”
Harlan frowned at his oldest son. “You’ll pay for this,” he muttered irritably, but he did start off. He hadn’t gone more than half a dozen steps before he turned back to Janet. “You and I have a date, darlin’. Don’t be forgetting it.”
“Not a chance,” she promised.
She looked up to find Luke chuckling. “What?” she demanded.
“Another five seconds I’d have had to hose the two of you down.”
“I’m beginning to see why your father finds you so irritating,” she muttered.
He laughed out loud at that. “Jessie was right.”
“About?”
“You’ll fit in just fine.”
The approval behind the comment stayed with Janet for the rest of the seemingly endless evening. She was glad that Luke and Jessie thought she’d be right for Harlan. She couldn’t help wondering, though, how they’d feel if they discovered what had originally brought her to Texas. Would they be as open and generous then? Or would they do everything in their power to see that she and Harlan never spent another single second alone together?
13
“We’ll all meet here for a late breakfast,” Harlan said to Jenny as she prepared to leave with Cody and Melissa and their kids after the party. He’d been trying to shoo people off for an hour now, to little avail. His sons particularly showed no inclination to go.
To Janet’s surprise, though, Jenny didn’t seemed particularly thrown by the change in plans. She was probably thrilled to be spending the night under Cody’s roof. Fortunately her daughter had missed the earlier exchange of winks between Cody and his brothers when they’d learned that Harlan was sending Jenny home with Cody and his crew.
“You’ll be back then, too, Mom?” Jenny asked sleepily as she climbed into Cody’s car.
Janet nodded. “I’ll be here,” she promised.
Jenny yawned. “Okay. See you.”
A moment later they were gone and Janet’s heart climbed straight into her throat at the look of pure longing in Harlan’s eyes. Despite the irreversible commitment she’d made to stay, despite her own yearning to make love to this incredibly gentle, thoughtful man, she was more nervous than an innocent bride on her wedding night.
She still had so many questions about why he seemed to have forgiven her for what must have seemed to him a hiding of the truth at least. That he still hadn’t mentioned what Jenny had told him kept her from relaxing and falling entirely under his spell. She kept waiting for him to reel her in and then turn on her when she least expected it.
“What about the others?” she asked, delaying their return to the house.
His gaze never left her face. “What others?” he murmured distractedly, his attention clearly riveted on her.
“Jordan and Kelly, for instance,” she said, though she was a bit distracted herself by the intensity of his gaze and the electricity arcing between them.
He stroked a finger along her cheek. “They’ve gone home. Slipped away a while ago, in fact.”
Janet swallowed hard before managing to add, “And Luke and Jessie?”
“Upstairs in their suite.” Her expression must have given away her trepidation, because he quickly added, “It’s at the opposite end of this big old place from mine. Think of it as being like a fancy hotel. You wouldn’t think twice about who was down the hall.”
“But this room is occupied by your son and his family, not strangers.”
He shrugged off her concern. “I promise you it’s not a problem.”
Janet disagreed. “How will they feel when they find out I’ve stayed the night?”
“For one thing, I don’t think any of them had a doubt in the world that you would be here come morning. Besides that, you seem to be forgetting whose house this is.”
“Hardly.”
“Okay, but whatever Luke’s opinion might be, he’ll keep it to himself.”
Janet chuckled at the unlikelihood of that. “Are we talking about the same Luke?”
“Stop fussing,” he soothed, cupping her face in his hands. “If you want to put this off, just say the word. You’ll have your own room for the night. I can even fix you up on a different floor, if you’d prefer. Give you a key for the lock, too, if it’ll make you feel better.”
She wrestled with the offer. Eventually, longing and a deep sense of inevitability overcame doubt. With Jenny staying at Cody’s overnight, there might never be another opportunity like this one.
She reached up and covered his hands with her own. Her gaze locked with his. “If I stay here tonight, it will be with you.”
Rather than seeming relieved, he tensed as questions darkened his eyes. “If? You aren’t seriously thinking of driving back into town, are you?”
She tilted her head. A smile tugged at her lips at the stark disappointment in his expression. She had another alternative in mind, one with which she was far more comfortable.
“I was thinking I’d have you take me,” she said. She lowered her voice to a coaxing note. “My house might be a half hour from here, but it is totally deserted.” Unspoken was the fact that there would be no ghosts in the bed or prying family members down the hall.
The tension in his shoulders eased the instant he caught her meaning. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” he said, grinning. “I’ll get my car keys.”
“Mine are in my purse,” she said, already reaching for them and handing them over. “Besides, with only my car parked out front, no one will ever guess you’re there. No gossip.”
“Better yet.”
They rounded the house, laughing like a couple of kids sneaking off to make out. Harlan gunned the engine in a way that would have had Mule sulking for a month about his disrespect for what the mechanic had declared to be an almost-classic car.
Then he shot down the lane and away from White Pines as if he’d been celibate for a decade and had finally discovered he was about to get lucky. Janet found his eagerness both touching and very arousing.
The drive into Los Piños seemed to take an eternity, especially after Harlan placed her hand on his rock-hard thigh and covered it with his own. So much heat, she thought as her senses spun wildly. So much strength. So much barely contained passion.
His blatant desire fueled hers, until by the time they reached her house, the last of her uncertainties had been stripped away. They rushed through her front door, barely taking the time for Harlan to kick it shut behind him before he dragged her into his arms. He kissed her with all of the pent-up hunger that had been held in check on the dance floor, on the long drive and for who knew how long before.
The kiss was commanding and all-consuming, wiping out every thought except for some primitive understanding of its wicked effect on her senses. Never in her life had she experienced such raw, untamed lust. She was suddenly trembling from head to toe with anticipation.
She was fumbling with the buttons on Harlan’s shirt just as urgently as he was stripping away the blouse they’d searched all over Dallas to find just yesterday. Then his mouth was covering first one breast, then the other, teasing, suckling in a way that sent shock waves ricocheting through her.
His skin was on fire beneath her touch, but her own was hotter. The caress of his tongue cooled, then inflamed, then cooled again in a devastating cycle. A moan of pure pleasure escaped, shattering their previously silent, passionate duet.
The sound brought his head up, leaving her feeling bereft. As if he had suddenly found his bearings, he tucked her tightly against his chest and sucked in a deep, calming breath.
“Whoa, darlin’,” he murmured softly, as if gentling a skittish mare.
“No,” she pleaded. “Don’t stop.”
He chuckled at the urgency in her tone. “I will not make love to you on the floor in the foyer,” he said. “Not that I’m entirely sure I can get us both out of this tangle we’ve made of our clothes and into the bedroom.”
If that was the only delay, Janet was more than willing to help. She shucked what was left of her clothing, kicked it aside and headed down the hallway stark naked. Only when she realized Harlan hadn’t followed did she turn back. He was staring after her, looking stunned. The thoroughly masculine appreciation in his eyes made her knees go weak.
“You take my breath away,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“Ditto,” she said in a voice only faintly louder. “If you get over here, though, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
Amusement danced in his eyes at that. “You certified?”
“No,” she admitted, then grinned. “I’ll need lots and lots of practice.”
Practically before the words were out of her mouth, he had joined her, scooping her up and carrying her into the bedroom with long, anxious strides.
“Then by all means, let’s get to it,” he said, lowering her to the bed, then settling down beside her atop the thick comforter.
The break had allowed just enough time for ardor to cool. To Janet’s astonishment, it took little more than a sweeping caress of her bare hip with callused fingers to return it to a fever pitch.
But Harlan was clearly in no hurry now that they’d made it this far. He seemed intent on making each response linger, then build to a shattering crescendo before trying something new. In her head, Janet knew that this was the same body she’d lived with all her life, but under his gentle, tormenting ministrations it seemed entirely new and heart-stoppingly responsive.
She was filled with astonishment over each exquisite, devastating sensation. And when every nerve was vibrantly alive, when he finally, at long last, enter
ed her with a slow, tantalizing thrust, she felt as if she’d finally discovered the true meaning of joy.
As their bodies played out this timeless ritual, over and over through the night, perfecting it, elaborating on it, exploring its every nuance, she wondered if she’d ever been alive before she met Harlan Adams or if she’d just been existing in some half-awake state, waiting for this moment.
Discovering such passion deep within herself should have been exhilarating, but in the silvery, moonlit darkness just before dawn broke she was overcome by an agony of indecision. She tried to compare these new, barely tested feelings for the man sprawled out half on top of her, his hand possessively circling her breast, with older loyalties to the grandfather she had adored.
If there hadn’t been such a history in her family of mistakes, of choosing mates so unwisely, perhaps she could have reached a different decision. But neither her father nor her first husband had understood this gut-deep need she had to discover the Comanche side of her heritage. She doubted Harlan would be any different, especially when he realized that part of that discovery meant righting a century-old wrong if there was any legal means at all to do so.
Sighing, she resolved that this night would never be repeated. She knew with everything in her that it was a decision Harlan would never understand, one he would fight with all of his incomparable powers of persuasion. She also knew it was the only one she could make.
And knowing that broke her heart.
* * *
Harlan was the kind of man who usually snapped awake in an instant. He’d never had much interest in lingering in bed when there were chores to do and a ranch to run. Maybe the trait had been born of necessity decades ago, but it had become a habit he’d had no reason to break, not even when the whole day stretched out emptily ahead of him.
This morning, though, he seemed to be easing back into consciousness, sensation by sensation. First it was the heat that tugged at his senses. Then it was the sweet, sweet smell of some light-as-air flowery scent, layered with an undertone of dark, musky sensuality. And then, dear heaven, it was the soft-as-satin brush of skin against skin, a teasing caress that had his blood pumping so hard and fast he thought his heart might flat-out explode in his chest.
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