“It looks like a Degas painting,” she commented.
“Humm,” he agreed. “I never cared much for his vivid colors, though. His pastels now, those I appreciate.”
Madolyn shifted. Her shoulders grazed his arm. Her comment had been spontaneous; she hadn’t intended to launch a discussion of French impressionism here in the barbaric West. Her surprise must have showed, for Tyler chuckled, a warm, friendly sound that spilled over her like rays from the setting sun.
“I haven’t always lived this far from civilization.” His eyes danced over her face. “Atlanta is…was…a city filled with culture. Of course, it started out like all places, a little rough around the edges. Takes people to add refinement, a lady’s touch.”
Pulling her gaze away from his, she focused on the scene that stretched before them, but was far more conscious of the man beside her than of the spectacular view. His fresh, soap-scented masculinity filled her nostrils; his presence filled her mind. She heard his breath rise and fall, no steadier than her own. Something strange and curious seemed to be taking place here on this hillside. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she had begun to feel light-headed. She thought perhaps she should try to stop it.
“From here they look like one town,” she said, in an attempt to still the silent dialogue she imagined traveling between them.
“They’re not, and for good reason.”
“You said you were angry when Morley divided the town.”
“I was. But after thinkin’ it over, I came to the conclusion that I’m better off for it.”
Just like a man! “Be that as it may, Mr. Grant, you heard Goldie. Everyone else is suffering.”
“Not anymore than other folks who come West to make a new life. I told you, Maddie. This is a harsh country. Only the strong and most determined survive.”
“If that’s true, those people certainly don’t need the added misfortune of being pawns in a contest of egos.”
She felt his shoulders bunch, could almost hear his teeth grind. After a while he spoke, quietly. “Those are my people, down there. I help them. You saw it. I’ll do anything I can to make their lives easier. But reunitin’ the town would ruin my business; if my business fails, the town dies.”
“Precisely the attitude I mean, sir. An inflated ego—”
“Ego has nothin’ to do with it,” he drawled. “At least not mine. I hate to bring this up, but Morley Sinclair is no saint.”
“You are?”
“No.” The silence stretched in measured heartbeats between them. “No, I’m not a saint.” She felt his eyes on her. “Neither are you, buttin’ into everyone else’s business.”
Even though his voice held no censure, his accusation stung, and Madolyn had learned early that when stung to sting back. “I was invited to organize the women for the purpose of reuniting the town. Reuniting the town is for the purpose of straightening out the mess you and Morley made when you divided it.”
“I didn’t divide it.”
“Then why are you fighting me?”
“I told you why. Morley Sinclair would ruin me if the town were reunited.”
“How could Morley ruin you?”
“You don’t know him, Maddie. He’s mean as an ol’ mossy horn that’s been caught in a bog all summer. If you reunite those towns, Morley Damn-his-hide will refuse to let me ship cattle.”
“How could he? You’re as big as he is. Or as…”
“As mean?” he challenged.
“Not mean.” Lulled by the constantly varying hues of sunlight that played across the valley below them, and by the light-headedness that seemed to increase moment by moment, Madolyn’s guard slipped. “Dangerous, I think.”
“Dangerous? Me?”
“Yes.” She made the mistake of looking at him, and found him staring at her. Her breath caught. “I mean, you appear capable of standing up for yourself. If Morley tried to keep you from shipping cattle, I doubt you would sit by and allow it.”
His brown gaze was warm, his expression one of bemusement. “You’re suggestin’ Morley and I start a war?”
She couldn’t look away. “A war? Certainly not. Must you exaggerate everything, sir?”
His eyebrows raised a notch in an expression that instantly confirmed her description of him. Dangerous.
“That’s what it would be, Maddie. An all-out war. Hell, it’s already off to a good start. You saw how he had those kids guardin’ the pastures.”
“They wouldn’t have shot you.”
“No, they wouldn’t have. But if push came to shove, Morley wouldn’t blink an eye at hirin’ someone who would.”
“Shoot you?”
“No. Try to. I’d damned sure defend myself.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, Maddie, oh…oh, what a mess that would be. A full-scale range war would be worse for every man, woman, and child in that town below than anythin’ they have to endure right now. Fact is, they’ve learned to manage well enough. You saw what they think of me. They wouldn’t be that supportive if their livelihoods were threatened as much as Goldie makes out.”
“Are you suggesting Goldie and the girls are lying, sir?”
He moved quickly. Taking her off guard, he caught her chin in a firm grip and turned her face to his. Though intense, for some reason his expression did not frighten her. Then he spoke.
“If you call me sir one more time, I might just turn you over my knee and teach you a lesson.”
A red haze of terror blinded her. She froze, everything except her skittering heart. When she was able to move, she jerked free and turned to stare at the scene below, seeing nothing but red, a glowing, threatening red. The only reason she didn’t jump up and run down the hill was the certainty that he would catch her.
Catch her and…what? Anger forced its way through the mire of chaos that muddled her brain.
“This is the most barbaric, uncouth land I have ever seen. It drags everyone down—”
“It’s no place for a lady.” Tyler’s voice was calm again, as if he had never uttered a threat in his life. “Ladies see the world through different eyes. Ladies need refinement and education and the arts.”
And safety. And protection. “The ladies of Buckhorn will see to that, once their town is reunited.”
“Will they? Weren’t you just complainin’ about how little control they have over their lives?”
“I didn’t intend to imply that Buckhorn is different from any other place on earth,” she insisted. “The female of our species is taught from the cradle to be submissive to the male.”
“History tends to back up that attitude.”
“True, but the wickedness fostered by such antiquated behavior suggests that it’s past time for a change.”
Tyler didn’t miss a beat. “Not in my town, Maddie. I won’t have you stirrin’ up a hornet’s nest in Buck. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you, Mr. Grant. If you’re so eager to get rid of me, convince Morley to secure my inheritance.”
“That’s the damnedest suggestion you’ve come up with yet!”
At his astonished tone, she turned to find his face nearer than she had thought. His eyes were for her alone, and even if he had never touched her, never kissed her, she would have known what was on his mind. When he moved toward her, she flinched.
He paused. “What’s the matter?”
She ducked her head, but with two fingers, he lifted her face to his.
“Look at me, Maddie.”
For some reason, she complied, but her eyes darted away after only a glance. She knew what he was thinking, what he wanted. Lord in heaven, she wanted it, too. When her lips trembled, she pressed them together.
“What are you afraid of?” he asked gently.
She swallowed, unable to reply, unwilling to pique his anger again.
“Come on, Maddie, out with it.”
When she remained silent, his pressure on her chin tightened. “Maddie…” he warned. At least that was what she heard in his voi
ce, a warning.
She didn’t want to believe it, not of him, but the proof was sitting here before her. Gritting her teeth to still her trembling, she jerked her chin free. “Or what? You’ll turn me over your knee?”
“What?”
“Like you threatened—”
“Damnation! I didn’t mean that. I was frustrated. Hell, I’ve never struck a woman in my life.”
“Not even your wife?”
“My wife? Who told you about Susan?”
Susan. Her name was Susan. A beautiful name. Much prettier than Madolyn or Maddie. “Goldie.”
“I should have known.” Absently, he took Madolyn’s hands in his. His soft drawl was earnest. “No, Maddie, I never struck my wife. I was taught to respect women.”
“Even when you’re angry? When they displease you?”
“All the time.” His tone held her mesmerized, and his eyes, his warm, sincere brown eyes. The silence lengthened, her heart fluttered. His claim permeated the very air, suffused it with his earnestness. Or with her desire to believe him earnest? With infinite slowness, as though unaware of his actions, he began to tug off her black gloves, finger by finger. When at length he spoke, his tone was light, soft.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, Maddie. I wouldn’t hurt you, not ever.” He cast her gloves aside, then reached for her. “Come here. Let me show you.” His arms moved with infinite care to encircle her, and she sat as in a dream, unable to move away.
His lips descended just as slowly; still she gave no thought to turning aside. Her only thought, as his lips claimed hers in a long, wet, mind-boggling kiss, was at last. At last she was in his arms again. His tender, gentle, protective arms. At least, they were protective at this moment. She wouldn’t be here long enough for them to turn violent.
Then his kiss took her thoughts away, and with them, her breath. Her mind soared to the heavens; her body glowed as with the fiery magenta rays of the setting sun. His lips became the wind playing through new leaves; a sonnet written by a poet, a song sung by an angel. He caught her bottom lip between his and tugged; he tilted her head back in a probing kiss that speared glorious tingles down her spine. Before she knew what she had done, her hands had reached out, touched him. When she tried to move away, he caught her and, without releasing her lips, pulled her hands up his chest and fastened them around his neck.
Goldie’s advice sang through her senses. Enjoy him. Let him teach you…Dare she? Oh, my, how she wanted to.
His dark hair felt soft between her fingers, clean and silky. His shoulders were much broader than she had realized. Her arms couldn’t span them, one to the other. When she ran her hands across them, his muscles flexed; he pulled her closer and her breasts sprang to life against his crisp white shirt.
He must have felt them, too, for he moved around her sides until the heels of his hands rested against the curve of her breasts. Her heart thrashed; she knew he could feel it. What did he think? What should she do?
Move. Run. Flee this man!
But the essence of him was overpowering, startling in its simplicity—clean, fresh, mysteriously masculine, with that slight hint of bay rum; not heavily applied, like fragrances at the House of Negotiable Love, but pleasingly faint, like the whiff of a cactus blossom or an occasional sage in bloom.
Then he renewed his attack with his lips, and her brain went numb. Goldie was right! Intense pleasure swelled inside her, dispelling for the moment her anger and disappointment and even her fear. She had never known such gentleness, such tenderness, such exquisite pleasure.
His palms moved over her breasts; tingles sped down her spine, low down, to the most intimate reaches of her body, the most inner and private places in her soul. Then his rhythm changed; he rolled her nipples between his fingers and, even separated by several layers of clothing, she felt the heat, the pleasure, the need. She had never imagined such—
Through the haze, a vision appeared…Annie dropping her kimono; Annie with breasts twice the size of Madolyn’s; Annie, twirling her finger in Tyler’s navel.
“Oh, my…” Of a sudden Madolyn’s depravity hit home. She pulled back, searched his face, his eyes.
“What’s the matter?” His tone was husky, his words slurred.
“No…”
“No, what?” His hands continued to move over her breasts, while his gaze sent shattering repercussions throughout her system.
Her breath came short. She cast her eyes down, to where his hands cupped her breasts. It felt so good, so bad, so…She tried to move away, but found herself powerless. “No, please.”
Tyler’s hands stilled, but he didn’t remove them. Indeed, he held her in a proprietary way that made her feel strangely secure, yet deeply frightened. “No…” She found his eyes; they echoed her feelings, those deep inside her.
“You don’t like it?”
“I, uh, no.” But that was a lie, and she saw instantly that he recognized it as such. She did like it. Heaven help her, she did like it. “I’m afraid,” she admitted in a quiet voice, ducking her head again.
He released one breast, took her chin between the same two fingers, and lifted her face. “So am I, Maddie. So am I.”
Well, that made no sense at all. While she tried to sort out his meaning, for she was quite certain Tyler Grant had never been afraid of anything in his adult life, he drew her to his chest. The side of her face rested against his heart and she felt its erratic cadence.
Everything has a lesson, Miss Abigail taught. But Miss Abigail also taught that a woman must never, not under any circumstances, submit to a man’s passion. Weapons of the heart, she called them. It was beginning to look more and more like Miss Abigail’s teachings needed a bit of revision. But that certainly did not give Madolyn a mandate to change them herself.
Struggling free, she lifted trembling arms and began to tuck her hair beneath her straw bonnet, which now hung crookedly from the back of her head. Her cheeks burned. Maybe he would think it was from the sunset. Before she could stick the last hatpin through the straw, he reached suddenly and pulled the entire bonnet, ribbons and all, from her head, and tossed it in the direction of her gloves.
Her embarrassment doubled. Finally she reached for the bonnet, expecting a scuffle. “I’m sorry to have behaved so boldly.” She picked it up. He took it from her hand.
“Don’t apologize, Maddie.”
“Oh, but I must. I mean…” When she reached for her bonnet again, he tossed it further away.
“If anyone was out of line, it was me.” He tipped her face with two fingers. “I’m sorry I embarrassed you, but I’m not sorry it happened. Not by a long shot.”
It was all she could do to meet his gaze directly. She wasn’t sorry it had happened, either, but if she had learned anything from the adventure, it was that Goldie’s advice would be impossible to follow.
“No,” she insisted, “it was my fault. I tried to follow Goldie’s advice.” She watched surprise light his eyes.
“Goldie’s advice?”
“Goldie said I should…I mean…She said it would be all right for us to—”
Tyler’s silent, amused perusal stopped her.
She drew a deep, quivering breath. “I see she was wrong.”
Nine
Tyler couldn’t believe his ears. “You’re takin’ courtin’ lessons from a…from GOLDIE?!”
“Who better?”
“Who better? You, a suffragette of the first order, takin’ courtin’ lessons from the town whore?”
“Watch your language, sir—” Her sentence stopped abruptly. Tyler saw her blanch. He kept perfectly still. Hell, Morley never mentioned being reared by a stern disciplinarian, but that must have been the case. She recovered quickly.
“I shan’t have you disparage Goldie or her girls.”
Her seriousness captivated him. “Me, disparage Goldie? Far be it—”
“In this man’s world a woman cannot be held responsible for the way she is forced to make a living. Weren’t those yo
ur words?”
“Close.”
“You were right. How could I throw stones at Goldie for the despicable job she’s required to do to put food on the table?”
“Despicable?” Tyler cocked his head. “Is that what you think about…kissin’?”
She turned away, scanned the scene below them, silent.
“I expect the truth,” he prompted. “The truth and nothin’ but. Did you find kissin’ me despicable?”
She pursed her lips. Below them the town was no more than a black hole now, having been swallowed up in shadow. He watched tiny yellow lights pop out of the night like fireflies, as one citizen after another lighted lanterns.
“Did you find kissin’ me despicable?” he asked again.
She sighed. “Truthfully, I…No I didn’t, Tyler.”
“What?!”
She turned, her eyes round. “I didn’t find your, uh…Kissing you was not despicable. Quite the contrary.”
“No you didn’t…what?” he repeated, while his heart beat in a new and erratic pattern.
“I didn’t find kissing you…”
“That isn’t what I’m askin’, Maddie. I want you to say it again, exactly like the first time.”
Madolyn frowned. She had no idea what he meant, which wasn’t surprising under the circumstances. She had known she was out of her depth, never having so much as kissed a man on the lips before she arrived in this barbaric land. To be honest with herself, she had never seen a man and woman touch each other except in anger. Except for a mother touching a child or a concerned friend touching a friend’s arm, she had never known contact between two people could be so soft and gentle, so pleasurable.
“Say it like the first time, Maddie,” Tyler was urging. “Say, No I didn’t…what?”
“Find kissing—”
“Damnation, Maddie. Say my name.”
“Your name?”
“Hell, you didn’t even know you said it.”
“Said what?”
“TYLER!”
No Place for a Lady Page 15