by Cora Seton
She didn’t object when he tugged her shirt up and over her head, nor when he bent to kiss the soft skin bordered by her lacy bra. She shivered as his lips traced the edge of it, and she didn’t even notice him undo the bra’s clasp until he pulled it away and left her bare from the waist up.
No fair, Jo thought, and yanked on the hem of his shirt until he took over the task, pulled it over his head and cast it off with hers. His wide, muscled chest was a sight to behold. Manly in the best of ways. This time when he cupped her breasts, she moaned aloud. His hands felt so good on her skin.
But first they needed to reach the center of the maze.
She led him, reveling in the feel of the autumn breeze on her bare flesh. This whole experience felt utterly decadent.
When they reached the center, Hunter slowed to a stop, taking in the enormous standing stone.
“It’s something to see, isn’t it?” Jo asked him.
“It sure is.” He let his gaze rest on her long enough to let her know he included her in that statement.
She knew the stone was impressive, though. She’d seen it a thousand times and it still drew her. No one knew who’d stood it here, or how they’d gotten it from Silver Falls where the granite was quarried. Jo moved closer and leaned against it, smiling her best come-hither smile at Hunter. He followed, leaned down and kissed her shoulder.
“You’re beautiful, you know that?”
Hunter wasn’t lying; Jo was beautiful. And she was offering herself to him in a way he’d only dreamed about. How many times had he pictured what it would be like to undress her? He’d come here worrying Jo was too young for him, but she’d proved herself his match at every turn. Now he wanted to meet her as equals—
Naked.
“Are you sure you want this?” he couldn’t help but ask, though. Some protective impulse was still alive and well within him. He wasn’t sure if he was protecting her or himself. He’d never been the kind for hit-and-run relationships, and that was the last thing he wanted with Jo. He needed this to be long-term, for his own sake.
And forever for everyone else’s.
He wasn’t drawn to her because of a need to clear his name, however—or a desire to own a stake in a ranch as wonderful as Two Willows.
He was drawn to her because he saw so much he understood in her. He knew that went two ways. Most women could never relate to what he’d been through, not once, but over and over again in his time as a Navy SEAL. It was one thing to kill a man in the heat of battle. It was another thing altogether to be tasked with the job in the carefully controlled way a sniper set out to do it.
Hunter could never pretend to himself that luck or accident played any part in the lives he’d taken.
He’d set up the shots.
He’d pulled the trigger.
Because he’d known if he hadn’t, others would die.
When he allowed himself to think of a partnership with a woman, he’d always felt it would require compartmentalizing his life. With Jo that wasn’t necessary. Her father was a General. She was raised knowing more about the service than most civilians.
And she’d shot a man to protect her family.
She could be his wife. Bending to kiss her again, Hunter allowed himself to think all the way through that.
She could be his—forever. And he could be hers without keeping his military life from her. Without holding back.
In a flash Hunter realized why loving a woman had seemed so out of reach for so long. He hadn’t wanted to contaminate a woman with the death he’d known. He hadn’t wanted the cruel world he worked in to leach into an innocent woman’s life.
And he hadn’t been sure he was up to the task of keeping part of himself separate and at the same time being open enough to allow a woman to love him.
That kind of marriage seemed doomed to fail.
But now he was with Jo. He didn’t have to hide anything from her.
Couldn’t hide anything from her. And he wanted her.
Now.
Here.
Jo laced her hand in one of his, half turned and placed it flat against the flank of the rock. She caught Hunter’s gaze and held it.
Torn from his thoughts, Hunter wasn’t sure what she was doing until she asked in a clear, loud voice, “Can I trust Hunter Powell?”
He turned his head to see if someone else was there, but he already knew she was asking the stone. Brian had told him all about this custom in his early days at Two Willows.
Why else would she bring him here except to test him?
The stone always answered, apparently.
Sooner or later.
And it never lied.
When Jo let go of his hand, Hunter kept it there a moment, feeling the warmth the stone had absorbed from the sun. He wasn’t afraid of the question she’d asked because he had no intention of being untrustworthy. The stone itself intrigued him. He wondered how old it was.
“When—?”
Jo clapped a hand to her mouth and pointed up. Hunter shaded his eyes and spotted what she was looking at.
Two large birds few overhead on silent wings, so majestic—and so unexpected—it took him a moment to recognize what he was seeing.
“Swans?”
Jo nodded, blinking rapidly.
“I don’t—”
“Symbols of fidelity.” Her voice was strange. High. She was fighting tears, Hunter realized. “My mother’s favorites,” Jo went on. “They’re really rare in this part of the state; they usually stay closer to the southwest. It’s a message.” She turned to him, her eyes shining. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
“Yes.” But it had to be a coincidence, and he didn’t want to take advantage of—he really shouldn’t—even if he wanted—
“Make love to me,” Jo said.
Hunter struggled against his baser instincts. Almost mastered them.
Lost the battle.
He couldn’t hide what he felt from her. Didn’t want to. Couldn’t fool himself into thinking that Jo didn’t know exactly what she was asking of him. She had thought this through and she wanted him.
God, did he want her.
“Hell, yeah.”
Jo had had sex before—and regretted it.
Not so much the first time—a fumbling experience at sixteen in Mitch Hearny’s family’s barn that left them both too shy to mention it again. Maybe not the times she’d been with Todd Rankin either. She figured now their rather short, offhand relationship was par for the course for two seventeen-year-olds who were too busy working on their families’ ranches to spend enough time together to make it something more.
But the men she’d been with this last year were unworthy of her, and she wished she could take back the time she’d wasted on them.
All she could do was chalk it up to experience—and make better choices.
She had a feeling Hunter had meant to say no when he’d said yes. He was older than her and he obviously felt he was supposed to keep a clear head.
Which made it doubly delicious that he’d clearly lost his head where she was concerned.
She did this to him. Made him want her. Badly enough to throw caution to the wind.
When she reached out to undo his belt, he didn’t stop her. He outright groaned when she undid the button of his jeans, her fingers brushing his skin. Soon enough his fingers were working at the fastenings of her jeans and it became a race to each undress the other—an exercise that left them laughing and tangled in a heap since neither of them had taken off their boots before they shucked down each other’s pants.
After a fair amount of wiggling and kicking, she got her boots, jeans and panties off. Hunter arranged them in a kind of mat for her to lie on, adding his own to the mix.
“Naked as jaybirds,” she said aloud.
“That we are.” He sounded fairly pleased.
“We could do something about that.”
“We could.” But for a moment they both lay on their backs and watched the sky. Was
he looking for more swans?
She was.
She didn’t need the confirmation, though. She wanted to be with Hunter, no matter what the circumstances. Maybe it was reckless to give love another chance after what she’d experienced, but it didn’t feel reckless. Hunter was special.
He was true. Loyal. And he cared what happened to her.
When he rolled over on top of her, she welcomed him with a satisfied sound.
He was hard and ready, and when he nudged her legs apart to rest his own between them, Jo’s whole body heated in anticipation. He bent down, took one nipple into his mouth and drew a lazy circle around it with his tongue.
Jo moaned.
As he nuzzled and teased her breasts, making good use of both his hands and his tongue, Jo relaxed and let him take charge—for now. He was good at what he was doing, and he coaxed such good feelings from inside her as he moved.
Soon she was so ready she couldn’t wait for him a moment longer.
“Please, Hunter—”
He lifted himself on his elbows. “Please, what?”
Was he going to make her say it again?
He was—the bastard.
“Make love to me.”
“Now?”
“Right now.”
“Like this?”
He nudged her with the tip of his hardness and Jo sighed, an almost guttural sound.
“Wait a minute. Better not take any chances.”
She murmured a protest as he moved to grab his jeans, but when he sheathed on a condom, she realized he was thinking far more carefully than she was.
“Hurry up,” she urged him.
“Hold your horses.” But he was smiling a very knowing, very happy smile, and she could wait—
“Oh,” she breathed, when he nudged up against her again and this time pushed inside.
He was big. Bigger than she’d had before, and oh, what a difference that made.
Jo found herself digging her fingers into the soft dirt, clutching at the ground as Hunter filled her full. When he pulled out and pushed in again, she let her eyes close and gave herself up to the sensations overpowering her.
This is what it was meant to feel like with a man.
This is what she’d been missing.
She never wanted to be without it again.
“Jo—” Hunter’s husky whisper told her it felt as good to him as it did to her. His pace picked up and she moaned again.
God, he felt good. His pace was perfect. He was thick and full inside her, pushing her to higher heights, urging her to a rousing crescendo of ecstasy she didn’t know how she’d contain. Somehow it was right that their first time was happening underneath the wide open sky. It made this true.
And that’s exactly how it felt.
Hunter worked inside her until he’d built a delicious friction that threatened to overwhelm her. His muscled hips thrust him in and out of her and all she could do was hang on.
When she went over the edge she couldn’t hold back her cries. Hunter came with her, grunting as he moved, coaxing every ounce of pleasure from her until she fell back, exhausted.
He collapsed on top of her and they breathed together until Hunter chuckled, the movement making him pulse inside her again.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. It’s just—good.”
She knew exactly what he meant. “I think you’ve spoiled me for other men,” she confessed.
He came alert, pushing up to look her in the eye. “No other men.”
She wasn’t sure if he was asking or telling her. Maybe a little of both. It was clear he wanted her assurance. It should have been aggravating, but it was kind of sexy.
“No other men,” she promised him.
And meant it.
Chapter Eight
‡
The next day, Hunter wondered if he was doing the right thing dialing the Franks’ number. He and Jo had slept in the stables again and had made love twice, but now it was daylight. Time to get to work. Once they’d all pitched in with morning chores, he and Jo had returned to their building site to go over their plans, but he’d found it hard to concentrate as the time for Marlon’s daily call ticked past again.
Hunter was worried. Marlon wouldn’t rotate overseas again this close to the end of his enlistment. That meant he should have access to his phone. And should be able to answer calls, too.
Which meant Marlon was avoiding him.
Hunter needed to know he was still in San Diego. If he’d run again…
Hunter didn’t even want to think about it.
It was nearly lunchtime, and the others had gone ahead into the house, but he knew it was a good time to catch Sue-Ann, so he’d lingered on the back porch to make the call.
“Frank residence,” Sue-Ann said, picking up. She didn’t sound her usual, chirpy self. Hunter straightened.
“Sue-Ann?”
“Glad we’re back on familiar terms,” she said dryly.
“Have you heard from Marlon?”
She paused. “No. I was hoping you were him, actually. Not that I’m sorry to hear from you—you know that.”
“I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days. It’s got me worried.”
“Well…” Sue-Ann seemed to be picking her words. “You know he loves you as much as any of us,” she said gently. “But your behavior has been a little off-kilter recently. Maybe it’s put a strain on things, and he needs a little break to sort things out. I’m sure he’ll come around.”
Hunter stifled a curse. She had no idea how recent events were going to put a strain on things if he didn’t hear from her son. He’d stepped into this mess so that Marlon could be free of it.
“Could you call him? Just make sure he’s all right. For me?”
“Sure, I can do that. I’ll call back in a few minutes.”
Hunter paced the back deck until his phone buzzed again—far too quickly for Sue-Ann to have had a real conversation with Marlon. Tabitha appeared out from under the wicker couch, jumped up on the railing, stared at him for a moment and jumped down again. The cat seemed to sense he wasn’t in a good mood.
“He’s not picking up. I tried several times.” She sounded worried, too. “Hunter, he’s been strange lately. For the last few months.” She sighed. “Longer than that. Tell me truthfully: Did he know all along you were struggling with your time in the service? Did he at least try to help?”
Too many questions that were impossible to answer without implicating Marlon. Sue-Ann didn’t know yet that May was filing for divorce. Marlon had insisted on it. He’d hoped to patch things up with his wife before anyone knew. Hunter understood why; he wasn’t the only one who’d had a quiet conversation with his friend before his wedding years ago. Marlon had still been in love with Marie when he’d rushed into his marriage. May had been running from her own troubles. Neither of them were making good choices, and no one was surprised when they grew apart.
“He knew.” Best to keep it short if he didn’t want to break his promises to his friend. Marlon had made him swear not to get anyone else involved. “I’ve got to go.”
“Keep calling me, Hunter,” she said. “I need to know you’re okay, too—that you’re getting the help you need. Are you seeing someone? Are you going to be able to wrap up your career with the Navy right?”
He bit back a laugh. He was seeing someone and he hoped his alliance with Jo would help end his career on a positive note, but not in the way Sue-Ann meant. “Yeah.” He cut the call short with a curt goodbye before they went down that rabbit hole.
This was a mess. Where was Marlon? Had he made a run for it again?
He wracked his brain for someone else to call, but he had few connections left in the Navy. He’d burned all his bridges to save his friend. So if Marlon was busy burning them again, he’d—
What?
Try to get his old life back?
Was that what he wanted?
He turned to survey the trailer, braced and ready fo
r Jo’s little house.
No. That wasn’t what he wanted at all.
“I wonder what Sadie’s doing in India right now,” Alice mused as she and Jo did the dishes after lunch. Cass had needed to run to town to do some shopping, so they’d stepped in to help. Jo didn’t mind; her chores were under control and they were still waiting for the supplies to be delivered before she and Hunter could start on her house. She took a clean dish from the rack and dried it absently, trying to picture her sister in a foreign land with her new husband.
“I bet she’s eating some fantastic meals.”
“At midnight?” Alice glanced at the clock.
“Either that or—” Jo broke off, embarrassed. She’d been about to allude to hot sex between Sadie and Connor, but she and Alice didn’t usually banter about things like that.
“Or she’s getting it on with that husband of hers,” Alice finished for her, unperturbed. She glanced at Jo. “She’s allowed to have sex with him—just like you’re allowed to go for it with Hunter.”
“Alice!” Scandalized, Jo made sure they were alone. “How did you—?”
“I didn’t. Until now.” Alice laughed. “I suspected, though. You’re glowing! What else could be going on?”
“You must think I’m an idiot—after Sean, and then Grant—”
“I think you finally might have met your match. And I think every princess has to kiss some frogs to find her true love.”
“My match? Do you… really think so? Is that one of your hunches?” Jo was used to living with Alice’s premonitions and she knew that some of them were stronger than others.
Alice frowned as she plunged her hands into the soapy water and found a last dish to scrub. “Don’t say anything, especially not to Cass. But my hunches… something’s… muddying them up.” She rinsed the dish and put it in the rack, then drained the sink.
“What do you mean?”
Her sister shook her head. “The only other time something like this happened was right before Mom died.” Alice scrubbed the sink clean and moved to wipe down the counters.
Jo set the plate she’d been drying on the counter with a thump as Tabitha wound around her feet. “You think someone’s going to die?”