A Very Tempting Texan (Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Missing Mogul)

by Janice Maynard

  He saw that his words hurt her. “We had chemistry,” she admitted. “But animal attraction burns itself out eventually.”

  “So you don’t want me anymore?”

  Her eyes flashed. “I didn’t say that.”

  “What are you saying?”

  She shrugged, her hands fisted at her sides. “You’re not like any man I’ve ever met. And when you were here the last time...in bed....” She trailed off, her cheeks pink.

  “What?” he demanded. “What about bed?”

  “I didn’t know it could be like that,” she said simply. “Raw. Intense. Fun...”

  “And yet you gave me the boot.” His stomach settled slightly, hearing her admit to the same feelings that had knocked him on his ass. “Why did you end it?”

  “Could have been a fluke.”

  “I guess we’re about to find out.” Her answer was evasive, but he didn’t have the patience to push for the full truth.

  He picked her up a second time and laid her on the bed then. He stripped off his shirt, kicked off his boots and shimmied out of his jeans. Wearing nothing but black knit boxers, he stretched out beside her and propped himself on an elbow. In this position he had access to take what he wanted.

  He brushed her hair from her forehead. “I should have come back sooner,” he said. “But I had some plans to put in motion.”

  “What plans?” Her chest rose and fell with rapid breathing. Though she appeared to be relaxed, upon closer inspection, he saw that she was unconsciously pleating the sheets with her fingers.

  He knew he was doing a piss-poor job of getting this right. It was hard to speak rationally when all he could think about was making love to her. “We’ll talk later,” he promised rashly.

  With unsteady hands he dragged her underwear down her legs and the little top over her head. Seeing her like this, a living, breathing version of the dreams that had tormented him night after night, made his head swim. He waited to put on a condom. That omission might be the only thing slowing him down at this point, and he wanted this to last.

  Bracing himself above her on one hand, he brushed the other from her throat all the way to her legs...mapping her curves as if he were learning braille, noting the rises and valleys. Shannon twisted beneath his touch, her eyes wide open, her breathing choppy.

  “I haven’t been able to sleep,” he admitted, pausing to play with her navel. “Every time I closed my eyes, you were there.”

  She grabbed his wrist and raised his hand to her mouth, kissing his fingers. “I never thought of this ranch as a lonely place until after I left you in the hotel.”

  “Why did you leave?”

  “It was too much. I was scared and out of my depth. I thought you were trying to use sex to persuade me to sell you the ranch.”

  “I was not.” Her assumption made him angry. “I’d known sexual desire many times, but what I felt for you was different.”

  “I want to feel it again,” she whispered, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. He saw her doubts about his sincerity, her determination to protect herself. But the flame that burned them both couldn’t be denied.

  He couldn’t wait any longer. Not this first time. As he rolled on protection and moved between her legs, he paused, certain that one other pertinent fact might appease her fears. “I haven’t been with another woman since the night I met you.” He didn’t dress it up. Didn’t try to explain. He simply laid it out there and looked her in the eyes, willing her to believe him.

  Perhaps it was unwise. Such an admission gave a woman the upper hand. But she deserved to know.

  She licked her lips, the shadows in her eyes lifting. “You’re telling me the truth?”

  “I have no reason to lie. A sexy, saucy blonde caught my eye and smiled at me when I came back to Royal, and she’s been driving me crazy ever since.”

  She framed his face in her hands, pulling his head down for a kiss. “I’m smiling now,” she whispered. “Make love to me, Rory.”

  He didn’t need a second invitation. Positioning the head of his erection in the damp folds of her sex, he teased her for a moment with shallow thrusts. She cried out, arching her back and wrapping her legs around his waist. “More,” she pleaded, her voice slurred. “I want it all.”

  With one powerful thrust, he joined their bodies. His scalp tingled. His muscles clenched. Every atom in his body froze and shivered, awash with lust and gratitude. “It’s not gonna last long,” he groaned. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

  Wildly, he thrust inside her, driving deeper, longer, more forcefully. Shannon sobbed his name, her fingernails scoring his back. He relished the small pain. It made him feel alive....

  He clamped down on his runaway desire, forcing himself to breathe deeply and move more slowly. Beneath him, Shannon twisted restlessly, urging him on. He chuckled hoarsely. “You’re used to being the boss, aren’t you, darlin’?”

  Blue eyes clouded with arousal met his gaze. “Is that a problem?”

  “Not at all. But this one is on me.” He took her hands and raised both arms over her head. The weight of his lower body pinned her to the bed. He manacled her wrists in one hand, rendering her immobile. “Relax,” he whispered.

  Shannon’s breasts rose and fell in tempo with her rapid breathing. “Let me go.” It was a halfhearted command at best. Even as she said it, she clenched around him, as though fearful he would really pull away.

  He rolled his hips, driving himself into her tight, wet passage. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  She cried out. “Please, Rory...”

  Suddenly, the end was upon him. He groaned, his entire body shaking with tremors as he pounded his way to release. Sweet, sweet release.

  He was barely aware of the moment she climaxed other than to acknowledge it and be relieved that in his rush he hadn’t left her behind.

  When it was over, he rested his face on the mattress, too spent to even disconnect their bodies. Shannon’s fingers twined with his above her head, their bodies slick with sweat. The aroma of sex scented her sheets and lay heavy in the air.

  “I need to tell you something,” he muttered, barely able to form the words. Even as he said them, he felt her body stiffen.

  “Rory, I...”

  Loudly, shrilly, his cell phone alerted him to an unpalatable reality. He rolled to his side, retrieved it and banged it against his forehead.

  Shannon took it out of his hand. “Stop that,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have to be at the club in forty-five minutes. A trio of well-heeled would-be supporters is waiting to hear my pitch as to why I should be the next state senate representative from their district.”

  She sat up, holding the sheet to her breasts. “Then you have to go,” she said calmly. “I understand. This is why you came back to Royal.”

  “No,” he said through clenched teeth, sitting up beside her and curling a hand behind her neck to drag her in for a deep, hard kiss. “This is why I came back. The meeting was incidental.”

  Knowing that at least a part of their future hung in the balance, he released her reluctantly and scrambled to his feet, dressing rapidly. “I’ve done things all wrong,” he groused. “I never meant for this to happen when I came out here today.”

  * * *

  Shannon went from drowsy and sated to hurt and embarrassed in a heartbeat. “Well, nobody asked you to follow me,” she said, glaring at his back as he bent to shove his feet into his boots.

  He straightened and ran a hand through his hair, his demeanor harried. “There’s a dance at the club tonight. I’ll send a car for you at six. Wear that same dress. We have some things to discuss.”

  “Since when do you get to boss me around?”

  He seemed irritated by her vehemence. “Don’t make this difficult, Shannon.” His scowl was the antithesis of the way he had regarded her only moments before. “I know I haven’t handled things well, but I think we can come to an understanding.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure
.” What was he planning to offer? A ridiculous amount far more than her land was worth? Or maybe a scheduled list of times when she should be available to him between campaign stops if he let her continue living at the Bar None after he owned it...

  She stood up, wrapping the sheet around her. “You’d better go,” she said flatly. She handed him his phone, taking care to make sure that their fingers didn’t touch. “They’ll be waiting for you.”

  For one harrowing second he stared at her, his gaze conflicted. Then with a muttered curse, he stormed out of the room. She heard his boots tromp on the landing as he retrieved his belongings, and then the unmistakable noise as he ran down the stairs.

  When she heard the front door slam, silly tears leaked from her eyes. She dashed them away in frustration. This was the end. No way in heck was she going to dress up, spend the evening with him and let him break her heart again.

  They had nothing in common, no point of contact at all. He was a big-city politician. She was a ranch woman with manure in the cleats of her boots. Even one more minute with him was dangerous to her mental health. No matter how he dressed it up, any offer to buy the ranch had to do with him and his goals, not her well-being.

  Much like the time she gave up candy bars, it was better to go cold turkey. Seeing him for a final auld lang syne at the club was only going to make things worse.

  Moody and emotional, she took a shower...a long, hot one meant to wash away the feel of his big warm hands on her skin. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, he was everywhere. In her mind, in her heart, in the very cells of her flesh.

  Wretched and morose, she ripped the sheets from her bed and dumped them in the hall to take to the laundry room later. Feeling the need to torture herself further, she wandered into the room where she had sent Rory to change clothes earlier in the day.

  Foolishly, she picked up a towel in the bathroom, holding it to her face and inhaling the scent of Rory Fentress. The faint pleasing aroma of his aftershave clung to the fabric along with the intrinsic smell of him, a man...just a man.

  Realizing with some chagrin that she had burned several hours of valuable time, she forced herself to change back into a clean set of work clothes. Though no one would presume to bother her when she was at home, they must be wondering why she had gone missing when there was so much work to be done. Rory’s appearance had been a pleasant blip on the radar. Now it was time to get back to the real world.

  * * *

  What was left of the afternoon was long and hot. At four-thirty she dragged herself back to the house to make a few phone calls and set up a routine visit from the vet. The herd of new calves was doing well, but she had learned not to take chances.

  Though it hadn’t been intentional, she had not taken her phone with her out to the barn where she had been working. When she picked it up off the kitchen table, she had half a dozen unanswered texts. Confirmed: car coming at 6. Where r u? Still in meeting. Don’t make me come out there...

  That last one made her smile despite her fatigue and her mental turmoil. Why did he have to be so appealing, so sexy, so impossible to resist?

  Knowing in her heart that she didn’t have the willpower to stay away, she once again showered and then stretched out on the bed for a quick restorative nap. But her heart had a different agenda. Her pulse raced. Her skin heated. And her stomach flip-flopped with the advent of a million unsettling butterflies every time she remembered Rory. Naked. In her arms. Smiling rakishly as he staked his claim.

  She was in quicksand and sinking fast....

  What was there to talk about, after all? They were in the midst of a mutual infatuation. The realities of their separate lives would snuff out the fire soon enough. When she said an unequivocal no, Rory would find another place to buy and their affair would crash to an end.

  But even that knowledge wasn’t enough to prevent her from following her lover’s demands. Rummaging in the back of her closet for the dress he’d told her to wear, she slipped it on and found the black heels that matched. Small rhinestone earrings, a spritz of perfume and a tiny black purse completed her ensemble.

  To shore up her courage, she opened a bottle of wine and poured herself half a glass. Taking the crystal goblet out onto the back porch, she sank onto the cushioned swing and rocked slowly. As far as she could see, the Bar None lay somnolent in the late afternoon sun. The ranch hands who worked the early morning shift had for the most part headed home, though there were a few old-timers who lived in the bunkhouse as they had in the old days when her dad was alive.

  The wine soothed her nerves but not the restless sense of anticipation. Though Rory had made love to her only hours before, she couldn’t wait to be in his arms again, even if that meant dancing in a room full of people. She had lived in Royal her whole life. And she had tried to be discreet each time she and Rory were together, particularly the last time.

  No one had seen Rory and Shannon leave the TCC and slip out into the night, making their way to Rory’s suite at the hotel. No one had heard the door lock, seen the drapes draw shut. No one had felt the trembling sense of urgency that propelled a man and a woman into bed and kept them there for three long, erotically charged days.

  Tonight, someone was bound to notice Rory...and possibly remember that he had been seen with Shannon from time to time. Perhaps they would speculate. She was single and free to be with whomever she pleased. But Rory would soon be heading out on the campaign trail, and she didn’t want to be the subject of gossip or pity. Texas law said he had to be a legal resident for a year in order to run from this district, and the election was only fourteen months away. Rory was running out of time to make decisions.

  She was still sitting on the porch when the car arrived at six on the dot. Though Royal boasted a wealthier-than-average population, most people didn’t flaunt their money. Instead of a limo, Rory had sent a dark SUV with tinted windows. It was black and shiny and looked as if it had recently been driven off the new-car lot.

  An older man in uniform, surely nearing retirement by the look of him, stepped out and greeted her. “Mr. Fentress had planned to come along, but his meeting ran late. He asked me to extend his apologies and to tell you he’ll be ready when you arrive at the club.”

  “Thank you. Let me get my purse and wrap and I’ll be right with you.”

  The trip to town was far too brief. By now, she should have come up with a plan to handle Rory, but so far, nothing came to mind. At least nothing that was not X-rated.

  When the driver dropped her off, she thanked him and stepped out onto the drive in front of the clubhouse. The Texas Cattleman’s Club, a large, rambling single-story building, was an old-world-style facility that had been built around 1910. The facade of dark stone and wood, topped with a tall slate roof, was designed to impress, a place for good old Texas boys to meet behind closed doors as they enjoyed exclusive benefits.

  If the hunting trophies hanging on the mahogany walls could talk, they would tell tales of billion-dollar deals and secret alliances. Shannon felt a genuine sense of pride in knowing that she was now a legitimate member. There might have been difficult days when she wanted to sell the Bar None and hightail it out of town. But she hadn’t. She had persevered. She had hung tough, and as her reward, she had saved her family’s legacy. Ranching in Texas was a time-honored tradition. She was doing her part to keep the Bar None alive and well.

  As she stepped through the front door, she inhaled the familiar smells of old leather furniture and pipe tobacco. The decor was unashamedly masculine. With dark floors and high ceilings, as well as all sorts of artifacts adorning the walls, the ambiance communicated history and timelessness.

  Her eyes were still adjusting to the dim lighting after the bright sunshine outside when a hand touched her shoulder. “Shannon! I hoped you’d be here.”

  She whirled around to find her good friend, Lila Hacket, smiling at her. They hugged. “Lila...I didn’t even know you were in town.”

  “A flying visit, that’s all. D
ad hasn’t been feeling well.” Lila’s dark auburn hair framed a lovely face that was perhaps a shade too thin. “How are things coming along with the child care center campaign?”

  Shannon shrugged with a grin. She and Lila were part of a small group of women lobbying to drag the club into the twenty-first century. There was plenty of room onsite to accommodate care for members’ children, but the idea had drawn some fierce opposition. “It’s like chipping away at a granite mountain, but I like to think we’re making progress.”

  “And Rory?”

  Shannon put a hand over Lila’s mouth, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard. “Hush. He’s meeting me here.”

  “That sounds promising.”

  “I told you I broke up with him,” she whispered, feeling her face heat. Lila knew her better than most anyone.

  “And yet here you are.” Lila’s sly smile said she knew exactly what was going on inside Shannon’s head.

  “It’s complicated.”

  Lila sobered. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

  Shannon’s throat tightened. “I can’t be. We’re all wrong together. I need someone who puts me first. Rory wants to buy my ranch. I don’t think he really cares about me.”

  “Rory can buy any place he wants. Just because your ex-fiancé was a jerk doesn’t mean that Rory is.”

  “I can’t talk about this here. Go wow some poor innocent man. I’ve got to visit the ladies’ room.”

  Lila brushed Shannon’s shoulder with an affectionate squeeze. “Keep me posted. I’m hoping at least one of us is due for a happy ending.”

  Shannon ducked through the door marked Women and examined her face in the mirror. Her cheeks were pink, but outwardly she appeared composed. Taking a deep breath, she smoothed her hair and walked back to the lobby. Across the room, Rory stood quietly, one hand in his pocket, a crooked smile on his face. He was wearing the same tux he’d had on when they met. The fact that he could segue so seamlessly from cowboy to corporate persona told her a lot about his gift for adapting to his circumstances.