Alex was almost too excited to be content folding clothes; this was a big show, with tough competition and prestige. She’d been to events sanctioned by the National Cutting Horse Association with Jackson before, but this was a money-added show that attracted all the right people. Most of the big Texas trainers would be there, as well as many celebrity contestants like Joe Montana and Christie Brinkley.
Suddenly she clutched the T-shirt she was folding to her chest. What was wrong with her? Her month was almost up. Everett might be there, and she was supposed to deliver. She’d promised Paul over and over she had things under control, but now for the first time, she realized that more had changed than her feelings for Jackson.
She turned around toward the hallway and the open door to his office. His voice was clear as a bell as he spoke to the motel clerk and confirmed the reservations for their room. Room. Singular, not plural. A sick, weak feeling hit her in the pit of her stomach and she sat back, still holding Jackson’s shirt close. She brought it up to her face, closed her eyes, and inhaled. Even freshly washed, it smelled of liniment and saddle soap—just like Jackson. How was she going to balance what was left of her business life with what was to be of her personal one?
She hadn’t spoken to Paul since her return from Carmel. It was as if her life had begun all over, and her responsibility to APM had been forgotten like a cloud on a sunny day.
“Done deal.” Jackson surprised her as his arms closed around her in a full-on hug. “I’ve made my last phone call.” He moved around to her side, pushed the pile of clean clothes away, and sat beside her on the couch. “All we have to do is pack our bags and we’re off bright and early tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t know how bright I’ll be at three thirty a.m.,” she shook out the shirt and hurriedly folded it, “but, yes, we’ll be on our way.”
He leaned back, watching her fold. His gaze was hot upon her and Alex suddenly stopped and turned to him, her expression sober. “I love you, Jackson.”
Smiling, he opened his arms and invited her to come to him. Alex welcomed his strong hands as they gathered her up and held her tight.
She had always been a smart and resourceful person. There had to be a way to deal with this problem, and she was sure she could find a solution that was acceptable to all involved. All her life, she had been a problem solver and all her life, she had triumphed over the odds. There was no reason to think she would fail now, especially when so much was at stake.
Alexandria settled into Jackson’s arms. She felt safe and loved. Snuggling closer she let herself be taken away to a place where there was no conflict and no treachery.
“Remember that bet that you’d score higher than me?” he said.
“Sure. I’m gonna give it my best shot, but what kind of chance does the pupil have against the pro?” she teased.
“Well, if you rode that new little palomino gelding for me in the two-thousand limit class, you’d have a great chance.”
The palomino had been getting better and better every day. He was still green, but when she had warmed him up for Jackson, she knew they had clicked. Apparently Jackson knew it too.
“You’d let me ride him?”
“Sure. He’s owned by a woman and will be shown by a woman. There’s no reason you shouldn’t take him in Temecula. I have two other horses to ride in that class and you’ll be helping me.”
She sat up, eager to ride the flashy little horse. “Well, OK then. You’ve got yourself a rider.”
The following day, excitement fueled plenty of verbal exchange for the first third of the trip, but conversation on the road died down afterwards; one hour wore on into the next. Silence had its place, though, and both Alex and Jackson settled into a comfortable kind of relaxation that comes with confidence and familiarity. She sat next to him, enjoying the warmth of his leg beside hers and relishing the moments when he rested his hand on her thigh.
As Jackson drove down Interstate 5, Alex watched miles and miles of flat, uninspiring farmland fly by. A nagging comparison between the acreage and her life wormed its way into her mind; desolate, dry, and separated from the rest of the world, it needed only care and a little nourishment to become the rich agricultural land that provided food for California and many other states. Similarly, her life up to now had been dry and semi-isolated, with only a veneer of productivity. In reality, what had she ever produced? Money? Ill will? Who would ever know how many dollars she earned fifty years from now, and for that matter, who would care?
She looked to Jackson. He was nourishment for her soul. He had given her a new life. A cold shiver ran through her; what might be emerging between them was the most frightening, abstract thing she’d ever dealt with in all her years of runaway successes. Real relationships, love, children—time was running out on her ability to become part of these incredible waves of human care and kindness, and perhaps Jackson had been sent by fate to save her from withering away in a lonely excuse for life. It struck her again that time was running out in a number of ways, but the most unnerving for her was the fact that in a few hours she and Jackson would enter a motel room and then look at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. He’d proven he was capable of total honesty, but was she?
Almost fifteen hours later, she and Jackson pulled into the motel after dropping off horses and trailer at the stable. Jackson had gone to the office, so she hadn’t a clue how he had explained the two of them. It didn’t matter; the end result was that they were going to spend their first night together.
He came through the glass door, tossing keys in one hand, whistling. He seemed so happy, so untroubled by what was becoming a huge problem in her mind. Minute after minute ticked away and with each one her apprehension grew.
“Number 108 and 109, connecting,” he said as he hopped in beside her and started the engine. “Let’s get the rest of this stuff unloaded and go to dinner. I’m as hungry as a bum looking in a deli window.”
“Me too,” Alex seconded, a bit too quickly. “I mean, I’m pretty hungry,” she corrected, suddenly feeling self-conscious. “How about eating before we go to our rooms?”
“Fine with me, we’ll just stow our bags in the cab while we eat. How about that coffee shop we passed on the way in.” He looked to her as he shifted into drive. “Or would you like to go someplace fancier?”
“Coffee shop is fine,” she said, again a bit too eagerly. He must have sensed something in either her voice or her body language since he stopped, looked at her, and smiled.
“The rooms are connecting, only because that is what they had left,” he said.
Alex blew out a long breath as she took his arm and hugged it like a lifeline. “Good, I mean, well, we both need to get a good night’s rest. I don’t mind telling you I am a little nervous.”
“Nothing to worry about,” he said as he held the door to the coffee shop open for her. “You have a good horse, and you are entered in a class that you have a good chance of winning.” He stopped her in the entry, took her by the shoulders, and looked her straight in the eye. “You have done your homework. Stop worrying.”
She smiled and wondered if he could see in her eyes that the competition was only a small part of her concern. All those positive things she’d thought earlier about being rescued from a dry life of business seemed to have lost their validity. That life had been quite free of doubt and indecision and was certainly a lot easier on her ego than the roller coaster she rode now.
The meal they shared and the short walk back to the motel passed so quickly that Alexandria hardly remembered a single moment. She couldn’t have repeated a word of their conversation or related whether she had chicken or beef. It seemed that only minutes had passed from the time Jackson came from the office to the time she found herself behind a closed motel door face-to-face with the most virile, powerful man she had ever known.
He set her last bag on the folding stand. In his other hand, he carried his ditty bag with his personal items. She looked quickly at it
and imagined him casually putting it in her bathroom. The room suddenly seemed tiny and stuffy.
“Alex?” his voice echoed softly in her mind. She saw nothing but concern in his face.
He stuffed one hand in his pocket and stood hipshot with one knee relaxed while he looked to the floor. He sighed, and she knew he’d not been as carefree as he appeared. For an eternity there was no sound but that of a distant child’s mournful wail and a car door slamming.
She turned away from him so that he might not see the yearning in her eyes. Why was she having such a hard time loving the man who had changed her life?
Silently he moved up behind her, took her by the shoulders, and turned her to face him. “Honestly, between you and me, I’m more than a little bit nervous too. I thought this night would be no big deal. There were other rooms available, but I…that is, I thought I would make it easier for us to be together.” Jackson let a huge sigh free and she saw his body relax. “I’ve slept with women before and I’ve had no complaints, but this time is different. I love you, Alex. This is more important than anything I’ve done before.”
Relief produced a single tear that slid from the corner of her eye and bounced along her cheek. “I can’t believe I’m crying again. How do you know the right thing to say every time I’m speechless?” She put her arms around his narrow waist and hugged him to her, resting her face against his broad chest. “How am I ever going to be there for you, the way you are for me?”
Jackson wrapped one arm around her neck, bringing her closer, and caressed her cheek with the other. “Let your hair down, Rapunzel, and let me rescue you from yourself. You worry too much.”
Alex pushed away far enough to remove the clip that kept her hair wound tight. Like molten gold, Jackson watched her hair fall around her face and shoulders. Everything about her was amazing; everything about her pleased him. He held her by the waist, forcing her hips and legs to stay pressed against his as she leaned back.
She smiled as she tossed her head, then leaned closer to him. Her breath was warm against his neck as she wiggled, snuggling closer, driving his body and mind crazy with desire.
“I don’t want to rush you, but if you continue to rub all over me like this, I’m not going to—”
“I’m not asking you to stop, Jackson. We’ve stopped before and I spent the rest of the night wishing we hadn’t.” She ran her fingers through his hair and he felt control slipping away.
“I’ve made a few real mistakes in my life, and all I can think of now is that I damn sure don’t want to make a mistake this time.”
Slowly she pulled back and toyed with the buttons on his shirt, “If you’re talking about ‘us’ being a mistake, we’d better stop, but if you’re talking about rushing into a relationship, then listen to me. If we just let things proceed at their own pace and don’t try to arrange it one way or the other, we’ll be fine. I want to be as close to you as I can get, and I’m not a baby, Jackson. I know what I’m doing.” She drew closer and nibbled at his ear. “And I know I want you.”
He groaned and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the floor. “Then let ’er rip.” He swung her around and around, lavishing kisses on her ear and neck as he went. The last time around, he reached for her legs and picked her up and carried her to the bed where he laid her carefully and followed her down.
Alex pulled Jackson’s shoulders to her, and the feel of his hard, muscled body drove her to the peak of her imagination. She suddenly sat straight up, leaving him surprised and lost.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered, already short of breath.
“Nothing.” She smoothed his hair where she had ruffled it. “Nothing at all.” The sparkle in her eyes dared him to come closer. His smile answered as he leaned to her.
It was a slow dance, done to the music of love, choreography perfected by hundreds of thousands of years of men and women craving passion, wanting each other. Perfection was the meeting of minds and bodies in an ageless ritual, and Jackson and Alexandria were lost in each other, mindless of any concern, above the mundane problems of the day, of the world.
It was the way nature intended it to be. One man, one woman. Bound together by the sense that each would cease to live without the other. Alexandria knew she would never be complete again without him, and the tender, loving way his body answered hers told her she was part of him forever.
Alex was on the edge and knew Jackson was too, when he suddenly forced himself away. Breathless, all he said was “Enough.”
Her mind screamed that it wasn’t enough, that she needed more, and she wiggled closer to retrieve the next kiss.
“Alex. We need to stop.”
“I’ll get plenty of sleep later.”
“No.” He sat up, leaving her still on the bed. “I want you more than anything else in the world, but not here. Not in a motel, not in a bed that belongs to someone else.”
She sat up, smoothing her hair back from her face. “Are you sure?”
He stood. “Never been more sure of anything in my life. You belong in my bed for the first time, and I want it to be more than a coffee shop evening.” He knelt before her and took her hand. “I know you’ve been wined and dined in places I’ve never even dreamed of, but I want to give you romance. I want to hear you sigh and smile like a child who sees what she wants under the Christmas tree and who knows that Santa Claus does exist. I want to make you forget everything but me.”
“Are you for real?” was all Alex could think of to say. “I have never felt so loved, so special. I couldn’t explain how wonderful I feel right now if I tried, Jackson. You’ve said everything a woman wants to hear, and it was all sincere. I can’t believe I have found you.” She whispered, “You’re not gay, are you?”
He stood and for a moment she thought she’d made him angry. “No. I’m damn sure not gay. I’m in love with you, Alexandria Payne.”
She stood and tiptoed to reach his lips. “Then you’d better leave now, before we both lose control. I’m going to score higher than you do day after tomorrow and you’d better be ready to pay off.”
When morning came, Jackson thought he would be exhausted by hours of lying awake, imagining Alex asleep in the next room, but he woke fresher and more alive than ever. He peeked through the connecting door and saw Alex was still asleep. He showered, and when he was ready to go feed, he couldn’t bear to disturb her. She slept like an angel. He laughed at himself. She was an angel, and she was his; he’d never been more satisfied with life.
He scribbled a note to her telling her he’d be back to take her for breakfast after he checked and fed the horses. As soon as he closed the door, he wanted to reopen it and look once more, but he thought it might wake her and resisted the urge. It was a little hard to believe that he had found her. She’d been hiding from him in a place he’d never thought to look, and by some freak coincidence, she’d come to him. It didn’t matter how she’d come, he wasn’t going to look a gift horse, so to speak, in the mouth. She was here, and he was ready to do whatever it took to keep her.
CHAPTER 8
Alex had just put coffee in the little pot provided by the motel when there was a knock. Thinking it could be only Jackson, she ran to open the door. “Forget your key—”
“Hello, little darlin’.” Everett stood, hat in hand, smiling.
“Well, hello. Come in, Jackson will be back any minute. In fact, I thought it was him when you knocked.”
Everett walked into the room stepping as slow as his Texas drawl. Alex sensed something was awry. “Can I get you…coffee, water, soda?”
He turned, running his fingers around the brim of his hat, like a man fingering the trigger. “Make your move,” he said simply, no humor, no good will apparent on his face or in his eyes.
“I beg your pardon?”
He stood tall and his voice hardened. “I said. Make your move. You’ve set everything up for the kill, and I’m waiting to hear your offer.”
Alex felt her face getting hot and red, s
omething that would have never happened a month ago when she would have been able to run a good bluff rather than admit the truth. “Rawlins Shipping.”
“Among other things, I suppose. Your ‘friend’ Paul Maitland just bought up the mortgage on Jackson’s place, and I can see that sooner or later, you’ll use your influence on Jackson to get Rawlins or anything else you want.”
“Paul bought the mortgage on—”
“Don’t pretend you’re surprised. You’re a little more crafty than I thought, but I guess I was guilty of underestimating you from the beginning.”
Alex backed away and sat on the bed. No wonder Paul had been so quiet lately. He’d been planning and making moves on his own. She looked to Everett and realized the direct approach was the only thing that would work now. “When did you know who I was?”
He threw his hat on the dresser and stared at her like she was a sidewinder. “When Jackson told me about his new, too-good-to-refuse deal, I got suspicious and decided to see just who his golden goose was. I hadn’t put the name with APM then, but it sure wasn’t a stretch to see what you were up to. I just didn’t think Jackson would fall for you and give you an extra bargaining tool.”
She stood, ready to argue her case. “You have it all wrong. When I came here, I had no idea that you even knew Jackson. I admit I wanted to learn how to cut in order to get close to you, but I never knew Jackson would be a part of that.”
“And I think you’re lying. You and Paul are much too shrewd for things like this to fall coincidentally.”
“You are so wrong,” she pleaded, her face blanching.
“I don’t think so.” He began pacing. “What I’m here for now is to make things right. I thought you’d have about as much chance with Jackson as a hen at a mass meeting of coyotes, but I guess I was wrong. Now all I want is to get him away from you so he can forget everything about you, so he can live his life without having his heart ripped out.”
Hot Quit Page 12