He was preoccupied with his own thoughts as he drove over the dirt track that wound down to the river.
Her eyes were drawn again to his lips when he took another drink. The air was suddenly cooler. She realized they’d entered the woods and were traveling down the long row of shade produced by the oaks. Rolling down the window, she could hear the intimate murmuring of the water.
Ty turned left along the stream and followed the path there. It was very pleasant. She took another sip and again looked at her companion… at his mouth.
She liked the way his lips were shaped, clear cut and sensuous in a masculine way. They’d been firm but gentle on hers that second time, when she’d been injured. She wondered what a third embrace would be like…gentle…or maybe rougher…harder…
He flicked her a glance. “Keep it up, and you’ll find out.”
The air felt charged with electricity all of a sudden. “Find out what?” She nervously poked a long strand of hair under the clip that held the heavy mass away from her face.
“What you’re wondering about.”
“How…?” Her voice was husky. She had to clear it. “How do you know what I’m wondering about?”
He gave her another of his quick, dark glances. “Because I’m wondering the same.”
“Which is?” She tried to sound amused.
“What another kiss between us would be like,” he stated flatly, almost as if he resented the fact.
She refused to be daunted. “Lucky guess,” she murmured, and gave him a deliberately wicked sideways glance.
The pickup stopped dead. She slid forward on the seat. An arm caught her around the middle, and she was aware of body heat and jeans pressed against her leg, of the feel of cotton under her hands as she held on to him.
“What is it?” she said, a whisper on the river wind. The question held all her doubts about her actions with him.
His eyes held a lethal gleam. For a second, her composure slipped. Teasing a tiger wasn’t always a safe proposition.
“Go ahead,” he invited. “Find out.”
She blinked. He expected her to kiss him? She contemplated his lips. It was one thing to think about kissing someone, she discovered, but something else to do it…sort of like letting the tiger out of his cage. She thought she could control it… him, but she wasn’t positive….
Drawing a calming breath, she flung her head up and gave him a daredevil smile. “What makes you think I’d want to?”
“You’ve been staring at my mouth since you got here. Afraid to chance it now that you have the opportunity?” His breath flowed warmly over her lips as he mocked her hesitation.
“Afraid? Of a kiss? Not on your life.” She pressed her mouth to his. “See? Nothing to it.”
“Now let’s try it my way,” he muttered savagely.
He took her lips in an openmouthed, moist, demanding kiss, a lover-to-lover kiss, a restraint-be-damned kiss. She was seized by the insane hope that it would never end.
Raising her arms, she looped them around his neck, dug her fingers into his thick, tawny hair and kissed him back for all she was worth. He gave a throaty groan and pulled her closer, one hand moving restlessly over her back while the other tangled in the long fall of hair down her spine.
The feel of his strong, lithe body did things to her sense of balance. If she hadn’t been sitting, she’d have fallen. If she hadn’t been clinging to him, she’d have tumbled from the seat.
When he at last drew back, they were both breathing hard. She opened her eyes slowly, afraid to look at him.
Suddenly, his attention shifted to a point behind her. “Oh, hell,” he said, “there’s Martha, glaring from her front porch.”
The rapturous moment was ended. She hid her disappointment. “Will she scold you for taking advantage of me?”
“You’re quick on the uptake.”
“I learned early to listen to what people meant, not what they said,” she quipped.
“As an orphan living in foster homes?”
Was that a husky tenderness in his voice, or was she imagining it? “I didn’t live in foster homes. I stayed with relatives until Aunt Essie took me in and kept me.”
He twisted around, one arm resting on the seat behind her, the other draped over the steering wheel. His face was close to hers. She had only to lean a bit forward and their lips would touch….
A finger pressed her chin. “If I kiss you again, I’ll drag you over to that grassy spot by the river and make love to you.”
With an audience, she knew she was safe. “No, you won’t. Martha would call the local sheriff and have you arrested for licentious behavior. Your family would be embarrassed.”
“There’s a willow whose branches come all the way to the ground. It’s like another world. I used to hide in there and pretend I was on another planet when I was a kid.”
She turned from him, using the time to compose herself. The willow tree was really there. “I can’t imagine you as a child.”
“We all start out the same in life.” He started the truck again and drove on down the winding path by the river until they came to the pasture. He drove up to the electric fence and tapped the horn twice.
Rodrigo stopped working and looked up.
“Can you come here for a moment?” Ty called.
When the younger man arrived, Ty let Carly do the talking. She explained her idea in full.
“You want me to make things? To sell? People would pay money to buy my things?” The idea had obviously never occurred to him.
“Yes, they will,” Carly assured him. “People on vacations love to buy things that are actually made in the area. You’ll have to decide what your signature will be. You would be an inspiration to other artists, too. I’d like to develop a steady source of local crafts and goods.”
Rodrigo looked at Ty. Ty hesitated, then nodded. “It sounds like a good deal. Carly will give you a fair price. It’s up to you if you want to try it.”
“You can work on your carvings in your spare time,” Carly said. She grinned. “Until you get to be rich and famous, then you’ll have to build a studio and do it fulltime.”
“Me?” Rodrigo questioned.
“Yes, you. I think visitors will love your tiny animals. They’ll buy them as gifts to take home to their family. Your price will go up and up, and I’ll no longer be able to afford you.”
“But where would I sell then?” he asked, already worrying about the future of his business.
She and Ty laughed together. She glanced at him, then away. She could fall in love with his laughter, deep and sort of gritty sounding. He was way too appealing for her comfort.
They planned a delivery date around Rodrigo’s work schedule. Carly told him how much she would pay for each carving to start off. “Then we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”
“And Elena is going to do jewelry?” he asked.
“I hope so. I’m going to ask if she and her girls would like to try it.”
Ty listened as Carly made her deal. The breeze brought the scent of her light perfume to him. He took a deep breath as a shaft of desire hit him anew.
He tightened a fist as resentment surged through him. Damn her and her soft lips and smart mouth. If he had any sense, he’d stay as far away from this river witch as possible.
River witch. There were stories he’d read as a kid about the mysterious enchantresses. Each river had its own witch. They were the spirit of the water, and they coveted other spirits, luring them into their cool, liquid depths with their siren embraces.
A man had to be careful around women like that or he’d get sucked in over his head before he knew what was what. Sometimes, he even wanted to. He forced his mind back to the present.
“I’ll see you next week, then,” Carly was saying. She and Rodrigo shook hands formally. The deal was done.
He started the engine, suddenly needing to get Carly back to the office so she could leave before he did something stupid.
Her expression changed subtly, and he knew she understood he wanted to get rid of her. He nodded to Rodrigo, let the two say their farewells and started the engine. In a minute, they were on the gravel road that ran between two fields, a shorter way back to the main house. Dust kicked up behind them in a long white plume.
“I liked the river path better,” his companion said.
“This gets us back faster.”
“So you can get rid of me.”
He clamped his teeth together and nodded. Anger roiled around in him like a loose cannon looking for a place to explode. The problem was he wanted to kiss her again. And she knew it.
“That’s right,” he told her. “You’re dangerous to my health.”
She gave him a cold stare. “Last time I had a checkup, I didn’t have anything contagious.”
“My mental health,” he supplied.
He heard her give a snort of disdain, but she didn’t say any more on the subject of him and her. He had to hand it to her—she played fair. She didn’t badger a man into admitting his passion for her or use it against him. At least, she hadn’t yet.
Give her time, he advised himself, adopting a cynical attitude about the whole stupid situation. He groaned under his breath. He had a week to get through, then that damned reception and dinner before she’d be out of his hair. Maybe he could make it through the weekend without exploding. But he doubted it….
Carly dressed in yellow cotton slacks with a yellowstriped blouse on Friday. She was going to the Rocking M to pick up her first pieces from Rodrigo and was quite excited about it.
Ha! she mocked herself. Lie to others but not to yourself. She was excited at the thought she might see Ty.
After tying her hair back with a big, floppy bow, she surveyed herself critically. With a clip-on sun visor shading her eyes and a clip-on purse around her waist, she was ready for a busy day of collecting items she’d ordered from various craftsmen around the county.
At a quarter to one, she arrived at the ranch and parked in her usual spot. She found Rodrigo in the ranch office, flirting outrageously with Alys, who was also dressed in pants today—skintight and lethal.
“Good afternoon,” she said, quickly closing the door to the air-conditioned office. “Thanks for meeting me.”
Rodrigo laid a hand over his heart. “The boss so ordered. I but obey.”
His dramatic spiel caused Alys to giggle appreciatively. Carly smiled, too. Rodrigo was a natural ham.
“Do you have the carvings ready?”
“He does,” Alys answered for him. “They’re beautiful.”
They were. A family of tiny deer was so endearing, Carly wasn’t sure she could bear to part with them. “These will have to go together as a grouping,” she declared.
Ty appeared when she finished her business. He walked her to the car.
She glanced at her watch. She had time to stop by two more places, then she had to get home, take a shower and change for the reception.
“Don’t forget our date tonight.” He smoothly reached around her and opened the car door, his arm brushing hers as he did. She jerked away and slid inside.
“You’ve made some people around here very happy and excited about their future,” he observed. It didn’t exactly sound like a compliment.
“Well, I’m happy, too. I think the store will do well for all of us.” She was tired but pleased from a week of hard work.
He stepped aside and closed the door. She rolled the window down. “I’ll see you at five.”
She cranked up. “I could drive to the resort and meet you there. It would save you the trip to Yreka.”
“My mother taught me a gentleman always calls at the door for his date.” He gave her a sardonic smile.
“Date?” she questioned. “I think of it more as a favor to your sister-in-law.”
His expression hardened. “Right.”
She glanced in the rearview mirror when she drove off. He was standing with his hands thrust into his back pockets, his eyes on her as she left.
Later that day, on the way home, she thought about the situation between them. It was volatile. She didn’t kid herself about that. He was a hard, cynical man. A sane woman wouldn’t waste her time trying to change him.
She arrived at her apartment and let herself in. Glancing at the clock, she muttered, “Ohmygosh,” and headed for the shower, strewing clothing over the bedroom floor as she did.
Thirty minutes later, she stood in front of her closet, peering into its depths like a miner searching for gold. She finally decided on a shimmery, champagne-colored dress with a sequined jacket of crimson. It glittered with every movement.
She slipped on the dress and black patent evening sandals, then put on makeup. After trying an elaborate hairdo, she gave up and put it up in a twist on top of her head, leaving a few long strands to waft carelessly down her neck and at her temples. With her watch and gold dangly earrings, she was ready.
The doorbell rang. Her heart took a nosedive to her toes. Resolving not to let Ty undermine her control, she picked up the jacket and a black beaded purse before going to the door.
He was wearing a dark evening suit. The slight natural curl in his tawny hair had been tamed to smooth waves flowing back from his forehead. He was incredibly handsome.
“Ah, your James Bond outfit,” she quipped to cover her nervous state. At his questioning glance, she pointed to his tie. “James always wore a black silk knitted tie when he dressed up, too.”
“You seem to know him well.”
“I was in love with him from the time I was twelve until I was about sixteen. That’s when I realized his girlfriends always came to some horrible end.”
“True,” Ty agreed, looking her over. “You’ve grown.”
“High heels.” She twisted one foot to the side so he could see the strappy evening shoes.
His gaze swept down and grazed along her leg to settle on her ankle. She suddenly felt self-conscious, as if she were showing off for him or something.
“Well, I’m ready,” she said brightly, and waited for him to step aside so she could leave and lock the door.
He continued to gaze at her for another moment, then as if giving himself a mental shake, he moved back and let her out.
“I need to stop by the house and see Jonathan for a minute. Do you mind?”
“Of course not.” She gave in to curiosity. “Who’s keeping him tonight?”
“Martha.”
“Ah, yes, the voice of your conscience.” With the teasing remark, she felt more at ease.
He seemed to sense it. He gave her a once-over, grinned and concentrated on driving the late-model luxury car.
They drove up the highway to the county road and took the exit there. His son was playing in the front yard when they arrived and ran to meet the car when it stopped.
“Did you get it?” he asked.
Ty smiled and reached down to pop open the trunk. “See for yourself.” He slid out of the car and went to the back,
“Thanks, Dad.”
Carly looked out the back window when the trunk closed. She saw Jonathan had a rope, which he was uncoiling and trying to get started in a twirl. He’d talked his dad into letting him take the roping lessons. She smiled, glad for the boy.
“Did you brush your pony down before you put him away?” Ty asked his son.
“He’s a horse,” Jonathan corrected with proper indignation. “I brushed him really clean and checked his hooves, too.”
“Good. I’ve got to go. Get to bed on time and brush your teeth. I’d better not get a bad report on you in the morning.”
Ty bent down and embraced his son. They kissed each other on the cheeks and hugged before saying good-night.
The scene brought tears to Carly’s eyes. He could be so tender with his son. With sudden insight, she knew he’d been the same with his wife when they’d first married…when love was new and wonderful. She looked away, feeling like an intruder.
When they were
on their way and he was busy with the heavy traffic on the interstate highway, she studied him surreptitiously.
“What are you thinking now?” he suddenly demanded, causing her to jump guiltily.
“Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that. You’re trying to figure something out.”
“Well, I was wondering how you could be so gentle and yet so hard at the same time.”
“Gentle? I’ve never been that.”
“With your son, you are.”
His mouth softened momentarily. “Kids are different. They don’t lie. And they don’t use your love against you. Treat them decently, and they’ll love you forever.”
“You were close to your family,” she concluded. “Even though your father made you work.”
“Yes.”
She heard a wealth of meaning in the word. She realized he missed them. For the briefest moment, she envisioned putting down roots on this land… with this man.
“My earliest memories are of sitting by a fire on a cold night,” he went on in a nostalgic vein. “We’d have a big bowl of popcorn that my mother had made. Shane and I would be stretched out on the rug. My parents would take turns reading to us.”
“What kind of stories did you like?” she asked quietly.
“All kinds—adventure, fantasy, sports. I even liked Little Women when my mom read it to us one winter. I cried when the youngest one died.”
“Yes, so did I.” Carly envisioned him as a boy. He’d have been rather like Jonathan, she thought. Daring and self-confident. Friendly and outgoing, his blue eyes taking in his world eagerly.
He’d probably never been lonely and scared, not the way she’d been when she’d gone to live with her aunt and uncle, the ones who’d finally agreed to take her in “for a while.”
No one had wanted the silent, unsmiling child on a per manent basis. Until Aunt Essie.
“It must be nice to have a big family,” she mused aloud.
“Poor little orphan,” he mocked, yet his tone wasn’t unkind. “It can also be hell, especially if you’re the youngest. Someone is always telling you what to do.”
“Did Shane boss you around?”
“He tried to.”
“I’ll bet you fought with him.”
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