Both his words and flat tone reminded her starkly that he was the enemy. It didn’t matter how sexy he looked standing on her deck silhouetted by the mountains. She had no business wanting him. She had no business even considering wanting him all over again.
She put a hard edge into her tone. “So the city now owns part of my land.”
“It was land you didn’t even know you owned until two weeks ago.”
“Don’t I have to sign something to make it legal?”
He dropped the envelope on the side table. “The very nature of expropriation is that one party is unwilling. It would be ludicrous to expect you to sign.”
“So that’s that?”
“That’s that.” He paused, his expression softening enough to cause a little lurch in her chest. “I feel like I should apologize.”
She valiantly fought the sensation. “Now that would be ludicrous.”
“I am sorry.” His apology seemed genuine, and she wished with all her heart she could separate Seth the man from Seth the mayor. But she didn’t dare.
She stretched her arms across the lip of the hot tub. “At the end of all this, one of us is going to lose big, Seth. And if I win the referendum, I’m not planning to apologize to you.”
“Okay. Then I’m no longer sorry. At least, not about the expropriation.”
She wanted to ask what he was sorry for, but she bit down on her tongue.
They stared at each other in the waning light, the hum of the whirlpool motor and the lap of the water a backdrop to the silent emotions thickening between them. She wanted him to go, but she also wanted him to stay. They were both adversaries and lovers, and there didn’t seem to be a road map for that.
“Warm in there?” he asked.
“No.”
He nodded, but stood silent, still, watchful, every inch the cowboy.
She lifted her wineglass, and he watched intently as she put it to her lips.
“Taste good?” he asked in a deep, stirring voice.
“No.”
“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
“I’m never going to make anything easy ever again.”
His mouth quirked in a half smile. “I’m pretty much counting on that.” Still, he didn’t leave, just stood there watching her while the warm water burbled around her bare thighs, teasing her skin, arousing her senses.
She cracked. “There’s an extra wineglass on the table.”
“Yeah?” He didn’t move.
She cast her gaze to the foaming water, then looked back up. “That’s as easy as I’m going to make it, Seth.”
Eight
Glass of merlot in one hand, Seth eased his body into the warm water of Darby’s large whirlpool tub. Sitting on the opposite side, she was gorgeous as always. Water foamed around her bare shoulders, dampening her auburn hair, while the filtered glow of the porch light silhouetted her face against the backdrop of dark hills. He sipped his wine, not making any further assumptions on her meaning, content to stay quiet and watch her.
She didn’t seem bothered by the silence, gazing right back at him.
“You met with my sisters?” He opened with something relatively safe. And he couldn’t help wondering how that had come about.
“They wanted to see the place,” she answered.
“Are you trying to recruit them?”
“I am,” she admitted openly. “Then, I’m hoping they can influence you.”
He smiled at her easy admission. He liked the way she hadn’t evaded, pulled punches or danced around the issue.
“Is it working?” He stretched one arm across the edge of the tub.
“I’m not sure. They’re talking about coming back here for a weekend getaway.”
“You’re bribing them?”
“I got the impression they planned to pay. I didn’t offer a freebie.” She toyed with the stem of her wineglass. “Though, now that you mention it…”
“You can’t use my own ideas against me.”
“Sure I can. All’s fair in…whatever this is.”
“What is this, Darby?” He sure couldn’t figure it out.
“A flirtation?” she suggested. “A fight?”
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he told her honestly. “I do want to flirt with you.”
“Only because it helps with your fight.”
“I wish it was that simple.”
“Then let’s make it simple.”
“And how do we do that?”
“We either stop flirting or we stop fighting.” As she spoke, the underwater lights came on, giving him an indistinct view of creamy skin beneath the surface. He was momentarily speechless.
“Photo sensor,” she explained. “They’re automatic.”
Seth didn’t quite manage a reply.
He took a swig of the wine, telling himself to get a grip. She was naked, and she was beautiful.
“Travis seems to be doing okay.” She shifted the conversation. “That was a smart thing he did, bringing Evan up here.”
Seth didn’t want to stop flirting. “Travis is a smart guy.”
“So no danger of him getting in another fistfight?”
“In the theoretical, my brother knows what to do and what not to do. But he’s got a temper, and if he thinks someone close to him needs defending, he’ll defend them.”
“That someone being you?”
“The family, our business interests or more generally the interests of the entire ranching community.”
“That’s a lot of people to defend.”
“So I’m a little worried.”
Darby unexpectedly smiled, and it lit up her face. Her green eyes glowed in the dim light, and the steam rising from the tub gave her an angelic appearance.
“Do you like having a big family?” she asked.
The question surprised him, but he rolled with it. He could handle a long game when necessary. “I do. And temper notwithstanding, Travis is a great brother.”
“Your sisters seem very nice.”
“For the most part, we all get along. My father had a stroke a couple of years ago, and my parents moved to Palm Springs after his rehab. But we see them as often as we can.”
“It’s hard to imagine,” said Darby, swirling the tip of her index finger in a figure-eight pattern through the surface of the water.
Seth tried not to let the action turn him on. Trouble was, when she breathed it turned him on.
“Mom,” she continued, “dad, siblings. You probably have a white picket fence and a dog.”
“Lots of white picket fences and quite a few dogs.”
“Tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“About your family. About a typical day with them, or even a typical dinner. What was dinner like?”
“My mom loved to cook,” said Seth, realizing he was content to sit here talking with Darby. They weren’t arguing, and that had to be progress. “She baked amazing pies and cakes and cookies.”
“You’re making me hungry.”
“We had, well, still have, this huge, rectangular table in the dining room. Mom would empty the oven, clear off the stove, then pass all the dishes across the counter to the table. And then, look out.”
“Look out?”
“We were usually all starving from working on the ranch all day long. Food disappeared pretty quickly.”
“What did she cook?”
“Roast beef, potatoes, carrots, beans, ham, apple pie. All the staples. We had a barbecue out back for burgers and hot dogs, but I don’t recall her grilling steaks when Travis and I were teenagers. I think she went for volume. Now we go for flavor.”
“My mom was a fan of the microwa
ve. Preformed, prepackaged, precooked.”
“Are you trying to make me pity you?”
“I am.” She grinned into her wineglass before taking another drink. “Of course, I was well prepared for army food. I couldn’t figure out what all the complaints were about.”
“I’m going to have to bring you home for a proper dinner.”
As soon as the words were out, he realized what he’d said. Was he suggesting he bring Darby home to his family? He couldn’t bring Darby home to his family. Could he?
“You look like you just swallowed a spider,” she observed. “Don’t worry, Seth. I’m not going to hold you to that invitation.”
That wasn’t what he was thinking. Not at all. In fact, he was surprised to realize he did want to bring her home to his family. How had that happened? He’d gone from fighting with her to sleeping with her, and now he wanted to show her off to his sisters and brother?
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Darby broke in, “you should stop.”
“I was thinking I’d like more wine,” he said, draining his glass.
She glanced to the empty bottle. “Wine rack’s in the kitchen.”
“Corkscrew?”
“On the counter.”
“Anybody else home?”
“Just you and me. But there are robes in the white cupboard.”
“As long as it’s just you and me.” He rose out of the water, stepping onto the cedar deck.
While opening the wine, he decided to give his worries a rest. There were a million unsettling things occupying space in his brain, a million reasons to leave right now, a million reasons to stay the hell away from Darby. There was only one reason to climb back into the whirlpool tub.
He wanted to. It was as simple as that. He wanted to be here with her right now, and everything else could damn well wait until tomorrow.
He returned to the deck, topped up her glass, refilled his own and settled back into the water.
“Did you date in the military?” he asked.
There was a lingering suspicion in her green eyes, but she answered him, anyway. “Sometimes, depending on where I was stationed.”
“Anything serious?”
“As it turned out, no.”
He was intrigued. “But you thought it might be serious?”
“More like, he hoped I wouldn’t notice he had a wife back in the States. But his buddies gave him up.” She took a drink. “And he was a nice guy, too. You know, other than the little problem with fidelity.”
“I’m in favor of fidelity,” said Seth.
“Everyone says they’re in favor of fidelity.”
“My mama beat a few principles into me. I’d never cheat. I don’t have a girlfriend now. In case you’re wondering.”
Darby gave a little laugh. “Are you defending not cheating on her?”
“There is no her.” He covered his expression with a sip of his wine. “What about you?”
“Unattached.”
A wave of relief loosened muscles Seth didn’t even know he’d clenched.
“That’s good,” he told her.
“Would you have been disappointed in me if I’d cheated?” she asked in a teasing tone.
He would have been. It was a little frightening to realize how upset he would have been to discover there was another man in her life. He had a sudden, overwhelming urge to hold her in his arms, maybe trap her there, keep her away from anyone else.
He set down his wineglass. “Come here.”
Her green eyes widened.
“Over here.” He crooked his finger.
“You want to flirt some more, don’t you?”
“I sure don’t want to fight.”
She hesitated. “You know what’s going to happen if I come over there.”
He wasn’t about to deny it. “I need to touch you,” he told her gruffly. “I need to hold you.”
He waited, letting her make up her mind.
After a long moment, she squared her shoulders, rising, glass in hand. Droplets of water rolled down her shoulders, across her breasts. Steam clung to her upswept hair, giving her face a dewy glow.
Halfway, she stumbled, and he reached for her, grasping her hand and guiding her into his lap. She felt incredibly good against him, her warm, slippery skin, soft curves, the way her bottom fit across his thighs.
“Exactly how much have you had to drink?” he whispered into her ear.
“A couple of glasses,” she sighed. “A few, I guess.”
“Intoxicated?”
“A little.”
Seth swallowed his disappointment. If her judgment was impaired, there was no way he could make love with her right now. But, unable to resist, he set aside their glasses and captured her moist mouth in a deep, lingering kiss.
He let it go on as long as he dared, but then forced himself to pull back. His point of no return was a hair trigger when it came to Darby. He settled her head against his shoulder, loosening his hold around her.
“Seriously?” she asked him in obvious surprise.
“You’ve been drinking,” he told her.
“And you’re going to be a gentleman about it?”
“I am.”
“Wow.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.” He shifted beneath her, settling them more comfortably, willing his body to back off its arousal. “It makes me worry about what you think of me.”
“I think I don’t know you very well. This old-fashioned sense of chivalry is a surprise.”
“I guess that makes us even. Because you surprise me over and over again.”
* * *
Darby awoke in Seth’s arms. He’d put off making love to her last night, but they’d ended up in her bed, anyway, cuddled together in white Sierra Hotel bathrobes, where she’d fallen asleep feeling warm and protected.
It was still full dark, probably somewhere around three. The wind had come up in the night. The flag was snapping on its pole, while the waves echoed on the lakeshore. Something fell outside, crashing hard on what she guessed was the back patio.
“What’s that?” Seth came awake, stiffening beside her.
“The wind,” she replied, curling against his warm body. It had been close to paradise, merely being held in his arms earlier. And there was no reason for them to stop now.
She liked the sound of the wind. It reminded her that she was at Berlynn Lake instead of in a basement suite in the inner city.
Something clattered across the deck, banging into the kitchen wall.
Seth sat up. “Is someone out there?”
“It’s the wind blowing things around.”
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “We don’t know that for sure.”
“Listen to the waves.”
He paused to listen.
The waves were clear to hear, but so were other sounds, creaking and scraping, and something made of glass shattered.
“An empty wine bottle,” Darby guessed.
“I’m going to check it out.”
“We’ll get it in the morning.” She didn’t want him to leave right now. She wasn’t sure she ever wanted him to leave.
But he came to his feet. “If somebody’s out there—”
“There’s nobody out there.” Darby came up on the backs of her elbows. “And if there is, you want them to see you? Here? In the middle of the night? Fraternizing with the enemy?”
“Better than having them light your inn on fire.”
“If we smell smoke, we’ll go outside. I’ll go outside.”
He gave a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, right.”
She reached out and touched his robe-covered thigh, wanting to recapture a softer mood. “We can’t let anyone see you
here, Seth.”
“So you admit somebody’s out there.”
“I admit nothing.” She stroked her hand along the terry cloth, coming to the edge of the robe and encountering bare skin. “You should come back to bed.”
He went still.
“I’m completely sober now,” she whispered into the dark.
There was another clattering sound on the deck and his muscles stiffened.
“Beach chair,” she whispered reassuringly, listening closely to the array of sounds. “Flag. Waves. Hot tub cover. And a tree branch.”
She feathered her fingertips along his skin.
“You are ridiculously distracting.” His voice was tight.
“Come back to bed and fraternize.” She parted his robe and kissed his bare thigh.
He dropped to the bed. His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her rear out from under her, pressing her back into the soft mattress. “If the place burns down, it’s all your fault.”
“The only thing on fire here is me.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
It felt so good to have him in her bed. It felt right, easy, as easy as drawing her next breath.
“And me,” he rasped, capturing her mouth in a deep kiss.
She pushed his bathrobe off his shoulders. “Good to hear.”
He reached between them, tugged at her sash and splayed her robe open, too. “You are exquisitely beautiful.”
She swirled her fingertips along his bare chest, down his hard abs, farther, until she wrapped her hand around his heat.
A growl rumbled through his chest, and he instantly came down on top of her. His mouth opened, fusing with hers in the heated kiss, his tongue calling to hers, his hands gripping her hips.
Her back arched, her legs separating, while his hand slipped between. She was slick, and he was obviously hungry.
“You are so hot,” he rasped. “So unbelievably sweet.”
Her mind blanked out everything but Seth. She hugged him tight, kissed him frantically, guided him mindlessly toward her. There was no time to waste, no time for anything but completion.
“Condom,” he whispered, holding back.
“It’s fine. I use birth control.” The hormone shots were a convenience thing in the military, but right now it meant nothing but Seth.
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