by Karen Anders
“What do you want me to do?”
“Watch him closely, but don’t blow your cover. You observe anything illegal or he’s a threat to the Coltons or their employees, you collar him and haul him off their property and blow your cover and tell them who Henry really is.”
“I think he was responsible for Ranger Tim Preston’s murder. But I have no proof except the sound of his voice and this slight limp I remember from the perp I chased after Tim was gunned down.”
“I’d like this son of a bitch. You know that, so keep your eyes peeled and watch your back.”
“Roger that.”
He sighed as he unpacked his bag. He wasn’t going anywhere now that it was confirmed Henry was as dangerous as Jake thought he was.
The next day, he did his usual training with Zorro, then headed for the tack room to put everything away. As he opened the door he discovered Clay and Daisy in a lip-lock. The kid had her up against the wall, his hands on her rib cage under her shirt.
“Clay! Daisy!”
They jumped apart and Jake said, “Daisy, get back to your chores.”
Her face flaming red, she threw a look at Clay and rushed out the door. Clay went to go past him and he caught him by the collar and hauled him back.
“What the hell are you thinking?”
“This isn’t any of your business. You’re not my dad or my counselor.”
“Don’t think that makes a difference, and I’m making it my business.”
Clay snorted. “Oh, man, now I gotta get a lecture about safe sex.”
Jake ran his hand over his face. “Damn, boy, you haven’t got the good sense God gave you.” He set his hands on his hips and shook his head. “Clay, there is a right way and a very wrong way to treat someone like Daisy.”
“You mean a good girl?”
“I mean a lady and she falls into that category, yes.”
He shuffled his feet. “She’s pretty and sweet. I like the way she smells.”
“Yeah, that’s where it begins. Don’t manhandle her for God’s sake and no more kissing in the tack room or any other room.”
“Right, Jake. Got it.”
“Do you?”
Clay nodded as he slipped out the door.
He turned after he finished hanging up the bridle and Alanna was standing in the doorway. It was the first time he’d seen her since she’d told him how she felt two days ago.
“That was good advice,” she said.
He nodded and sidled past her. He felt her staring at him as he walked away, but he was adamant the ball was in her court. Except his palms were sweaty and he’d thought about how good she looked.
This wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He threw himself into hard labor for the rest of the morning. At noon, Buck Tressler tracked Jake down while he was cleaning tack.
“McCord, Fowler wants to see you. He said to go up to the house.”
“All right,” Jake said and finished his task. As he climbed the path to the house, he couldn’t help looking in the direction of the left wing.
Fowler along with most of his family was sitting on the patio, including Alanna. Jake recognized them all. Eldridge did have an eclectic mix of children, seven in all. When Fowler saw him, he motioned him over and said, “How is it going with Zorro?”
“He’s coming along great. I’m planning on getting a saddle on him this week and seeing how that goes.”
“It’s about time you had some progress on him. See that it continues.”
Alanna glanced at him several times and he tried to remain neutral and keep his eyes off her, but it was damn hard.
Piper Colton said, “Why don’t you stay and have something to eat... Jake, is it?”
“Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“You wouldn’t be. You work hard for us. Fix yourself a plate and enjoy.”
“Thank you. I’ll just wash up.”
Fowler gave Piper a sour look, but after a quelling look from Alanna, he didn’t say anything.
Jake didn’t really care. He knew he was a fool, but he wanted to be close to Alanna. Then he saw Marceline studying him and he averted his eyes. He still had her bracelet. He wanted to confront her about where he’d found it, but he’d never gotten an opportunity to speak with her alone.
It was going to have to wait. Inside in the kitchen, he soaped his hands and washed them in hot water under the tap. After drying them, he headed back outside. Zane and his pretty wife, Mirabella, had finished eating, which left an empty spot next to Alanna. He grabbed a plate and filled it with the delicious fare and settled next to her.
“Can’t get enough of Mrs. Morely’s cooking, can you?”
Jake grinned and turned to her. She seemed tentative as if she was worried she’d say the wrong thing.
He wanted her to be at ease. He didn’t like the pinched worry of her face or the dark circles under her eyes. He missed her in his bed and in his arms. “The woman can cook like a dream. You won’t see me turning down anything prepared by her hands.”
She smiled, but it didn’t go as far as her eyes, and she stared at him with an odd kind of sorrow. The silence stretched between them as the conversation from her siblings flowed around them. Just for an instant he thought she was going to say something. He wanted to bridge the gap, but it was up to her. She had caused the rift. She would have to be the one who mended it.
“Jake—”
Whitney burst onto the patio, her face contorted, tears streaming down her face and her fists clenched. “Why do I have to hear from some gossip in town that someone came forward and said you—” Whitney jabbed her finger at Alanna “—threatened your father!”
Alanna rose in alarm at the shrill tone to Whitney’s voice. Her face drained of color.
She held out her hands and opened her mouth, but Whitney wasn’t going to be deterred. She fended her off and took a step back. Her voice caught on a sob.
Everyone was staring at Alanna. “I can explain,” she said, but Whitney was now crying in earnest.
“I can’t believe this,” she wept, fat tears trailing down her cheeks. “You killed your own father!”
Other than Whitney’s theatrical sobs, there was utter silence on the patio. “I didn’t kill him,” Alanna said, her voice constricted.
“Of course not. I can’t believe you would ever do such a thing.” She turned as Reid slipped his arm around her shoulders.
“Come on, Mom. Let’s get you some tea and get you calmed down. Alanna wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he said, giving her a bolstering look.
She squeezed his arm as he ushered his still-sobbing mother into the house. She looked at Jake, her lip quivering. “If you’ll excuse me,” she said before turning and disappearing around the side of the house.
He wanted to go to her in the worst way, but he had to force himself to finish his lunch.
Marceline turned to him and said, “Lucky you. Dinner and a show,” she said with disdain. She got up and left the patio.
That left Fowler and Thomas, or T.C. as he was most widely known. They were discussing what sounded like business. Jake tried not to wolf his food, but as soon as he finished, he got up and said, jamming his hat on his head, “I’ll get back to work. Good day to you.”
Fowler ignored him, but T.C. nodded and so did Piper.
He went down the path, but doubled back and slipped around the pool to Alanna’s door. He knocked and no one came. He tried the handle and the door opened. He went inside and heard the shower running. He was torn. Was she in there crying her eyes out or was she really just getting clean?
Just as he was going to go in, Alanna came out of the bathroom. She gasped at the sight of him. For a moment she stood there, her eyes caught by his, looking so miserable all he could do was open his arms.
With a soft cry, she went into them. As they closed around her, she buried her face in his throat.
Despite all they had been through, she felt exquisitely good and right in his arms. Experiencing a shar
p clenching pain in his chest, he tried not to think, tried to give her some reassurance. She sure as hell needed some now.
It took a while, but he finally felt her relax, and he eased his hold on her. When he withdrew, she exhaled unevenly and looked up at him, the pain in her expression stark.
“I didn’t mean what I said. In fact, I was completely blown away by what you did with Zorro, I have to admit I was wrong. You’re not a fake or fraud. You’re very good at what you do and I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
She softly brushed her mouth against his, the warmth and moistness of the kiss making his breathing erratic. She licked his bottom lip slowly—very slowly.
“I’m not going to ask, Alanna. If you want to talk to me. Talk. Otherwise, I’ll just say, ‘apology accepted.’ But we both know talking about what happened to you that day you went into Dallas will only help.”
“You are such a smartypants, but I’d rather talk...later,” she said, maneuvering him toward her big, king bed. She pushed him down, then walked over to close her bedroom door as he tucked his hands behind his head, then she was back, folding down onto him and the bed.
Opening his mouth beneath hers, Jake raised his head just enough to deepen the kiss, resolutely keeping his hands beneath his head. He wondered just how far she was prepared to take this little bit of seduction. She changed the angle of her head, perfecting the seal of her mouth against his, and then she smoothed her hand down his chest, undoing the snaps on his shirt with little flicks of her thumb. Holding his head immobile with her other hand, she deepened the kiss and pulled his shirt out of his waistband, then lightly dragged her thumbnail across his nipple. Jake jerked, her touch sending a sharp current of sensation through him, and his heart went into overdrive when she lightly rolled the hardened nub under her fingers.
He wanted to grab her and drag her on top of him, but her seduction was too sweet, too new, too arousing to let go. With a wild flurry of excitement building in him, Jake tightened his muscles against her tormenting touch, yielding his mouth to hers as she deepened the kiss. He groaned and jackknifed when she trailed her fingernail down the hard ridge of his erection beneath the fly, and the dual sensations made him groan again.
His breathing turned heavy, and it took every ounce of control he had to remain still beneath her lightly exploring hands and mouth. She stroked the full length of his hard, thick arousal again, and Jake sucked in a ragged breath and released a guttural sound against her mouth when she trailed her nails between his legs and down the sensitive base.
Working her mouth slowly against his, she shifted slightly, then used both hands to undo his belt. Jake lifted his hips off the mattress, and she pulled the belt free of the loops and dropped it on the floor, then slid her long fingers beneath his waistband. Her intimate touch electrified him, and he lifted his head and drew her tongue deeply into his mouth, the pulsating hardness in his groin nearly exploding as she carefully drew his zipper down. With the same slow care, she freed him, and Jake abruptly ceased to breathe. Unable to remain passive one second longer, he caught her by the back of the head and ground his mouth hungrily against hers, heat searing through him as she lightly smoothed her thumb over the moist, slick tip of his arousal.
Grasping her face between his hands, Jake gazed at her, his breathing labored. Her eyes dark and heavy lidded, her full sensual mouth swollen from the urgency of his kiss, he couldn’t get enough.
His hands circling her neck, he stroked the line of her jaw with his thumbs, her pulse frantic beneath the heels of his hands. He wanted her naked and on top of him, he wanted to be buried so deep inside her that he would become part of her, and he wanted to let go of the heat that had him hard and erect. But this was as far as he could go.
“Condoms, babe,” he pleaded.
He heard her fumble in the nightstand drawer and the glorious sound of a foil packet. He looked up at her, completely at her mercy.
“Alanna,” he murmured fiercely.
She stood and dropped the towel and he took in her high, full breasts tipped with hard pink nubs, the exquisite line of her rib cage, the flare of her hips and the sweet V of her thighs.
She leaned down and moved her hand over his torso, his teeth clenching and sucking air when she took his hard, pulsating flesh in her hand, stroking him again. His face contorted at the sharp, intense pleasure that ripped through him. Alanna cupped him in both hands her eyes dilating, her pulse quickening, and Jake rose up on one elbow and caught her behind the head, pulling her toward him. She resisted.
Moistening her lips, she held his gaze for an instant longer, then looked down. His heart hammering like a wild thing in his chest, Jake watched her stroke him, firm and deliberate. He watched as she put the condom in place and rolled it down, her touch soft and unsteady. The instant she had the protection in place, he caught her by the back of the neck and rolled, carrying her beneath him. Urgently finding her mouth with his, he drew up her knees and roughly settled himself in the cradle of her thighs. A low groan escaped as he entered her, his awareness shattering into a sunburst of sensation. Then he slipped into a space where there was nothing except him and Alanna—and driving urgency.
It took Jake a long time to come down after the earthshaking climax. And it took him a long time before he could relax his urgent hold on her. But finally he was able to collect enough strength to ease back a little. The first two things that filtered through his consciousness were how fiercely Alanna was holding on to him, and that she was trembling. Shifting his hold on her, he lifted her hair out of the way, then protectively cradled her face against his chest, his hand cupped at the base of her spine. He brushed a kiss against her hair, then rubbed his thumb along her heated skin.
“I’ll be right back. We should really talk,” he said. He went into the bathroom and took care of the rubber and was back in bed. As soon as the mattress dipped she snuggled into him. He wanted to just hold her.
“Can we talk later, Jake? I’m too emotionally raw right now after what Whitney said to function normally.”
“All right, but I guess, it’s really up to you. If you don’t want to talk about anything, I get it.”
“No, I’ll tell you. I want to. I think you can help me.” Moments later, she went slack and her breathing evened out. He reached down and pulled the comforter over them. His throat suddenly tight, he gathered her damp hair and pulled it free, then tightened his arm around her back. Taking a deep breath, he rested his head against hers, wishing he knew how to say all the things that needed to be said. Wishing his hands weren’t tied by him being a Texas Ranger...
He jerked awake and rolled to look at the clock to see it was really late. His stomach growled, but Alanna was curled against him still asleep.
He slipped out of bed and used the bathroom, then dragged on his jeans and left the room. The house was dark and he could hear murmurs from what was probably the living room.
He grabbed some chicken out of the fridge and then heard the sound of the front door opening. He went to the front window and saw Marceline get into her car. This was an odd time of night for her to go out. His gut told him to follow her.
He streaked back to Alanna’s room and grabbed up his shirt and boots. Wait. He needed a car. That’s when he saw Alanna’s keys on her bedside table. He snatched them up and rushed out of the room and the front door.
Hitting the automatic door lock, he found her car and jumped inside and was soon tailing Marceline.
He followed her for a few miles when she turned off and headed toward the lake. He continued to follow her, keeping the lights off. Thankfully, the moon was bright enough that he could see.
She pulled up into a parking spot adjacent to a small boat slip and got out. He slowed and waited for her to hurry to the dock and the boat that was bobbing softly against the swells of the lapping water.
As soon as she disappeared inside, Jake noted the second car. He parked Alanna’s car out of sight, then soundlessly shut the door. He carefully moved toward the
boat, alert for any movement. Once he got close enough he heard voices. Then he saw her.
It was Ella Wilson.
The waitress who had accused Alanna of threatening her father. Obviously this was some kind of conspiracy.
What the hell? Had Alanna been right? Had Marceline set her up? Alanna did need someone to lean on if these were the types of things her family member did. Talk about a dysfunctional family.
“You need to stick to your story,” Marceline said in a strident voice.
Ella’s voice was strained. “It’s only a matter of time before the sheriff finds out I have a record in New York, then it’s all over.”
Marceline grabbed her wrist, but Ella broke free. “You just have to sit tight,” she hissed. “What’s so hard about that?”
“I’m not going back in the joint. I’m out of here.” Jake went for cover as Ella climbed off the boat and marched to her car. The sound of the engine loud in the night. Her red taillights disappeared into the distance.
He came out of hiding once Marceline hit the dock. She jerked and cried out, her hand going to her heart.
“You hired this woman to make a false accusation about your sister? That is low and underhanded, Marceline.”
“You followed me? Who do you think you are?”
He blocked her path and she made a soft, angry sound. “Get out of my way.”
“Not until you answer me. Now tell me. Did you frame your sister?”
“No. I wanted to get to the bottom of this, make the witness tell the truth. Someone paid her to lie.”
He didn’t believe a word she was saying.
“I can see you’ve fallen under Alanna’s spell,” she sneered. “That’s so noble of you to protect her.”
“I think you’ve been a busy woman.” He pulled out the bracelet and even in the dim lighting, he could see she blanched. “I found this on the second floor of the apartments. How did it get there?”
She snatched it out of his hand and sidestepped him. “I don’t know. It was probably stolen by someone with sticky fingers,” she said pointedly.