by Susan Fox
“All right, Lorna Dean,” he said reasonably. “I’m sure you’ve wound up for a dandy speech along the lines of ‘You’re-nothing-but-a-sex-obsessed-male-beast.’ Go ahead with it now and I’ll take a bow after you finish.”
Her face went hot with frustration and she was suddenly furious with him. She made a move to free her arm and he released her instantly.
“What on earth is wrong with you? Why can’t you understand that all your loaded remarks and flirtations aren’t welcome?”
“Why can’t you see that there’s a point to all those loaded remarks and flirtations?” he returned, his calm tone riling her even more.
“Oh please,” she burst out with uncharacteristic scorn, “what point could there be? Unless you’re that desperate for another notch on your bedpost.”
He smiled faintly but his gaze was serious. “There aren’t as many notches as you think, Lorna. I’m not some hormone-crazed kid.”
Lorna was trembling now but it suddenly struck her that she wasn’t trying to douse his sexual ambitions as much as she was trying to douse her own. She felt like a traitor to her own common sense. “Then stop acting like one,” she said, a little desperate now. “Kendra can’t see us out here, so there’s no reason for you to talk like that or do some of the things you do, unless you’re looking for some cheap thrill to pass the time. And I won’t be part of that.”
His faint smile eased away. “You’re fighting this pretty hard, aren’t you?” A ghost of a grin came back. “Can’t say when I’ve had a bigger compliment, but you really ought to kiss me now and get it over with.”
The suggestion was so outrageous and tantalizing that her mouth went dry. Her fury abruptly faltered and her voice was a little choked.
“I thought you understood what this would cost me. You said you did.”
A tenderness came into his eyes. “You don’t have much faith in the power of love to win out, do you?”
She was stunned by that. It was a shocking conclusion for him to have come to in such a brief time. What had his investigator found out? On the other hand, perhaps she was more transparent than she wanted to think. Either way, what he’d said about love wasn’t some vague hint, it was blatant. And dangerous for someone like her. She couldn’t afford that kind of hope and she was compelled to put a stop to it.
“Love isn’t what we’re talking about,” she said in a low, fierce voice, “and you know it.”
“How do we know if we don’t follow this down the road a while?”
So what he was really after was some kind of sexual test drive that had nothing to do with love. This wasn’t the first time a man had suggested that to her, but it was the first time she’d ever been vulnerable to the suggestion.
As frustrated with herself as she was with him, her anger went cosmic. “Spare me the good ole boy verbal seductions.”
“So I’ve advanced from loaded remarks to verbal seductions.” His voice lowered to a gentle drawl, and she caught an inkling of sexy deviltry in his eyes. “Then come kiss me.”
The arrogance of that was the last straw. Why should she be the only one tortured by something she couldn’t have? He might not be so cavalier about all this if the stakes for him were a little higher.
And since he was waiting to take a bow for the title of “sex-obsessed male beast,” then it would be richly deserved justice if she could inflame his beastly appetites then send him home as empty and aching as she felt.
She was too angry and inexperienced to recognize the peril, and she was too stirred up to realize she was overreacting because of the powerful sexual feelings in herself that she couldn’t acknowledge. So she did the unthinkable.
Lorna barely noticed the stiffness in her legs as she rose to move across the table and kiss him full on the mouth. As she did, she nudged him to his back, determined to give him such a wanton, fiery kiss that he’d go crazy for her.
Though she knew women who did that to men were foolish and low-class, perhaps he’d think twice next time about toying with her when there was absolutely no hope for anything permanent between them
In those first seconds of the kiss, Lorna used everything she’d ever learned or read about to give him the most erotic kiss she was capable of. She felt the first small flare of victory when his big hands came up and his arms closed fiercely around her.
But that small flare of victory went out like a match tossed in water the moment she suddenly found herself on her back, at the mercy of the most carnal and demanding kiss of her life.
Lorna felt herself melt into the table as deep heat bubbled through her to set her insides on fire. She’d never experienced anything like this and she was helpless beneath a vastly more diabolical expertise than she’d ever known existed.
And then Mitch’s hand began to move on her, efficiently dispensing with the buttons on her shirt and beginning an invasion as skilled and overwhelming as anything he’d already done with his lips.
She was the one who’d gone wild and she reveled in it, following feminine instinct to both respond and to initiate more. She’d lost her mind and her body loved it.
By the time Mitch finally broke off the kiss, she was shaking and starved for air, and she lay boneless and utterly powerless as the shock of what she’d done began to impact her. She’d never in her life lost control like that, and the maddening fact that she was eager to have it happen again made her feel even more a traitor to common sense.
A hot tear of defeat streaked from her eye to her ear, but instead of completely withdrawing, Mitch’s talented mouth nibbled at her neck, then moved ever downward like a dictator parading his army over conquered ground.
“You win.” The sound of her own whisper was little more than a mild surprise to her dazed senses. She’d already surrendered to the devastation ahead, so she guessed it would cost her only a little more of her shredded pride to admit it.
“It’s not win or lose, Lorna,” he said gruffly, then lifted his head to stare down at her with an intensity that she felt all the way to her soul.
She slipped up a hand and touched his lean cheek, still too hungry for more to resist savoring the feel of his skin. He leaned down and gave her such a tender kiss that she ached with the sweetness of it until he drew back.
“I think we’d better finish this at the house.”
The words caused no more than a small pang of regret. What was he supposed to think after the way she’d kissed him? Because he’d so expertly turned the tables on her, she had no illusions about teaching him anything. She certainly had no illusions about being able to resist whatever intimacies he might have in mind once they got to the house, because now she wanted them as much as he did.
Mitch eased back and pulled her into a sitting position. But instead of leaving her on her own to button up and put herself back together, she endured the tender pleasure of watching him button her blouse and retrieve her lost barrette.
They both prepared for the ride to the house in silence. Mitch quickly folded the tablecloth and stowed it in the cooler while Lorna tucked in her shirttail and found her hat. She avoided looking his way until she heard a low growl and looked up in time to see him reach under the table for his Stetson.
When he pulled it out, Lorna saw the reason for his growl and gasped. The crown of the big hat had been comically crushed down. She must have stepped on it when she’d climbed onto the table, and she felt torn between mortification and laughter.
Mitch turned dark eyes on her that were glittering with amusement, but he said nothing. His lips curved faintly as he placed his big fist inside the hat, gave it a small punch to poke it back into shape, then put it on and tugged the brim low.
Lorna managed to keep a straight face and give what she hoped was a suitable impression of regret. “I’m sorry. I must have stepped on it when I…”
A fit of giggles burst up and she had to bite her lips to keep them from gurgling out.
Mitch saw that and his dark eyes flared with silent laughter but he k
ept his expression stoic as he reached for the cooler and lifted it to one shoulder.
“Never mess with a man’s hat,” he said with a mock severity that was calculated to make her lose control of her giggles. “And do not ever step on it to climb all over a man, even when you mean to kiss the daylights outta him.”
The exaggerated nonsense of that gave her heart a sparkling lift, but Lorna managed to keep a straight face until Mitch passed her.
His only comment then was, “Let’s get movin’,” and then a barely heard, “Hat-masher,” but it was enough to finally set loose a stream of nearly hysterical giggles as the tension and the longing and the emotion of these past three days rushed out from a lonely heart that still couldn’t think of a way for any of this to end happily.
Lorna managed to get control of herself by the time they were in the truck to head back to the ranch house. Mitch reached across the big seat to coax her against his side, and she leaned into him wearily, absorbing the heat and the feel and the musky scent of his body so she could imprint it on her heart.
Very soon now, she’d have to file all this away in that lonely little place where she’d stored all her other sweet memories of loved ones and places she’d never see again. And someday her memories of Mitch would grow hazy, just like the other ones.
How many days or weeks or years that would take wasn’t nearly as important now as her sudden greed to create as many memories as she could for however much time she had left with him.
The tenderness Mitch felt for Lorna was unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life. He’d pushed her at the creek until he’d felt like a brute, but he’d been compelled to shake her out of that damnable reserve. Then she’d gotten so riled at him that she’d kissed him after all, and they’d both lost control.
He’d felt it the moment the dam of passion in her had broke to thunder over him, and he’d reveled in her response. And he’d been a heartbeat short of making her completely his right there by the creek. Now that his head was clearing a little more, he realized even more how shattering that would have been to her pride. A woman like Lorna wouldn’t be able to cope with full intimacy without the security of marriage, not without paying a heavy emotional price.
The quiet devastation in her sad eyes afterward had got him by the heart, but he should have expected that. She was a woman who truly didn’t believe in love for herself and was terrified to make a serious try for it, though it was obvious to him now that she craved love like she craved her next breath.
She was nestled against his side as if she’d begun to feel at least some trust toward him, but he was the last one to believe the fragile feeling had any sort of permanence. And because Doris and Kendra literally stood between them, there was every chance that none of these first feelings would survive the week for either of them.
Maybe Lorna was right. Maybe he should have left her alone. Mitch leaned down a little to press a soft kiss against the dark silk of her hair in a secret apology. She’d left it loose and it still smelled of shampoo. His lips lingered, savoring the rich sensation as he brooded about the risk.
Three days wasn’t long enough to know anything for sure, but then, how long did it take to know whether you wanted to take a chance on something that showed promise? Or on someone?
When they reached the house, Mitch hefted the cooler to his shoulder and they walked hand in hand to the back patio, past the pool, then stepped into the air-conditioned chill and silence of the big house.
Lorna knew the moment they walked inside that something was different. There was another quality to the big house that hadn’t been there earlier, a formidable presence that sent anxiety swimming through her like a poisoned stream. Lorna glanced uneasily at Mitch as he set the cooler on the floor.
“I thought you said Doris wouldn’t be home until long after I was gone?”
“That was the plan,” he said, as he straightened. His brow furrowed. “What makes you think she’s here?”
They heard the sound of high heels on the wood flooring in the hall and Lorna panicked. She started to turn in an instinct to flee, but Mitch gently caught her arm and pulled her close.
His deep voice was a calming rasp as he took hold of her waist and she braced her hands against his chest. “There’s no reason for you to be afraid of this,” he told her. “Her plans must have changed, but today won’t be like that time in the restaurant.” His grip tightened. “You’ve done everything she’s wanted, Lorna, so she’d be a fool to put any of it in jeopardy.”
Distracted by mounting anxiety, Lorna looked up, amazed to realize what Mitch had said. He was reminding her she had at least some protection against Doris, and his very reminder was a form of protection in itself. He gave her the impression that he was more on her side than Doris’s, but that couldn’t be right. She must be mistaken. And how could he be so certain of Doris?
She had no time to ponder the question because the steady, light tap of high heels changed pitch as Doris stepped into the tiled kitchen and came to an abrupt halt.
Lorna glanced her way and couldn’t help that she stared as she struggled to blank her expression and brace herself for disaster. She watched, frozen, as Doris’s blue gaze took note of the way Mitch was holding her. Doris didn’t look her in the eye and barely let her gaze linger more than a scant second on Lorna’s face.
Doris offered a faintly polite smile that was fixed on neither of them yet coolly included them both. There was a brisk, imperious quality to her gently cultured voice.
“Mitch? Would you mind making the introduction?”
CHAPTER NINE
WOULD you mind making the introduction?
The hypocrisy of that incensed Lorna. She managed to keep her voice soft. “I think we know who all the players are, Mrs. Ellery. We don’t need a dress rehearsal.”
It ranked as one of the nerviest things she’d ever said to a parental figure in her life, and Lorna clenched her teeth together to keep herself silent. Doris was no parent to her, so she should feel no guilt over challenging her pretense. Lorna hated that she felt guilty anyway.
Doris’s gaze shifted to finally meet hers and sharpened, then lowered briefly to again take note of Mitch’s grip on Lorna’s waist before it shifted to Mitch.
“I’d like to have a private word with Miss Farrell, Mitch.”
Everything in Lorna went on full alert and icy anxiety crackled through her blood as Doris went on briskly. “In the den, if that’s all right with you?”
Lorna wasn’t looking at Mitch to see his reaction. She couldn’t seem to look away from the rigid set of her mother’s face. It seemed to take forever before Mitch answered.
“I reckon that’s up to Lorna.”
Lorna saw the flicker of surprise in Doris’s eyes and it dawned on her that what Mitch had just said had again offered her a protection of sorts. It stunned Lorna that he would do that, and it was clear Doris hadn’t expected it, either.
Doris’s rigid expression appeared to falter as she offered a more conciliatory, “Of course,” before she looked at Lorna, again just missing a direct connection with Lorna’s gaze.
Lorna felt the pressure of Doris’s expectation and bitterness surged up. She eased away from Mitch as she said, “I’d rather not.” She took a shaky breath as she fought against giving in to the urge to rile Doris and shake a little more of her regal poise.
“I’m not a threat to you, Mrs. Ellery, or to your daughter. And now that I’ve visited Mitch’s ranch and we have at least one witness to that, I’d like to go back to San Antonio now.”
Doris’s lips parted as if she’d started to veto the idea, but then she appeared to change her mind. “As you wish. But I’d like some assurance that you’ll be back on Friday for the barbecue. It’s our Fourth of July celebration and a yearly tradition on Ellery Ranch. Kendra would naturally expect an appearance by Mitch’s current love interest.”
Lorna needed no other reminder of her place in the scheme of things. Whatever had happened be
tween her and Mitch at the creek, she was still little more than a minor player in his stepmother’s dating charade. The fact that he hadn’t yet mentioned the barbecue on Friday made her think that perhaps he’d counted on things being finished between them by then. Maybe he’d already decided that the road they should “follow a while” would reach its dead end by then.
“I don’t know if that will be necessary,” Lorna got out, suddenly caught in the acid grip of old hurts and resentments that were too caustic to contain. It was all she could do to struggle for a scrap of civility.
“I’m giving John Owen notice tomorrow, then I’m taking off the rest of the week and all of the next in vacation days. I’ll make certain Kendra can’t contact me and, who knows? Perhaps Mitch will meet a new love interest at the barbecue to soothe his broken heart.”
It gave Lorna remarkably little satisfaction to see the instant devastation in her mother’s eyes as her face went pale. Doris gave Mitch a distressed look and a hasty, “May I see you in the den?”
A wave of dizziness came over Lorna as she realized that Doris’s devastation and distress were solely the result of an unexpected veto of the date-and-dump plan. She’d dreaded ever coming face-to-face with her mother again, and because she’d been caught by surprise by this, there’d been no time to shore up her self-control.
And now that Doris was about to whisk Mitch away, most likely to persuade him to somehow bully or sweet talk her into compliance again, Lorna couldn’t seem to restrain herself. The urge to give Doris an unwanted glimpse of the pain she’d caused was so overpowering that Lorna struck out.
“I think of it as the ‘What shall we do with Lorna’ meeting,” she said quietly, and she paused until she had Doris’s full attention.
“There’ve been quite a few of those in the past, and I never liked the decisions that resulted. I’d rather not be anywhere in the vicinity for yours, so I ask that you save it for later when Mitch comes back from taking me to San Antonio.