The notion to invite him here had struck her several times today, but each time she’d squashed the idea. Even though he’d kissed her again in the hospital parking lot, she didn’t want to appear too eager for his company. After all, she was wise enough to know that a kiss, even two, was nothing to a man like him. He probably went around kissing women all the time. She doubted a day passed in his life when he didn’t have a woman near him. Ileana was nothing new or special to him, and she needed to keep that thought in her head.
And yet, she couldn’t help but feel a bit special, a bit hopeful about seeing him again. He’d implied that he might catch her on hospital rounds again today. But he’d not shown up, and she’d not waited around to see if he would. Renae had already been tossing sly questions at her about Mac. Ileana didn’t want to add more gossip to the nurse’s repertoire by sitting around the hospital, waiting for the man to appear.
She’d changed into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt and had just finished eating a bowl of stew when she heard a knock on the front door.
Figuring it was one of the family, or Cesar with a box full of leftovers from supper, she was totally surprised when she opened the door to find Mac standing alone on the other side of the threshold.
“Mac!” she softly exclaimed.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, Ileana. I wasn’t going to bother you like this. But your parents kept insisting you wouldn’t mind. I just wanted to get an update on Frankie. I know I should have called—” Pausing, he grinned, then shrugged. “But I thought it would give me a good excuse to see your home.”
Her heart beating fast, she pushed the door wider. “Of course, you’re not bothering me. Please, come in.”
He stepped past her, and Ileana quickly shut the door behind him. Then with her back against the wooden panel, she took a second to draw in a bracing breath and collect herself.
“Just when I thought it was going to get warmer today, the wind starts blowing,” he said as he shrugged out of his jacket. “I don’t know how you folks get used to the cold.”
“When you’re born into it, you don’t know anything else,” she said, then walking around him, she reached to take his jacket. “Here, I’ll hang that up for you.”
“Thanks.”
He gave her his jacket and his Stetson, and Ileana hung both items in a closet not far from the door. Then ushered him down a short hallway to the living room. With each step they took, she caught his male scent, felt his presence wrap a blanket of excitement around her.
“I’m sorry to say that Frankie’s condition hasn’t changed all that much. A slight improvement but not enough.”
“Well, at least she’s not worsening,” he said.
As they entered the living room, she started to invite him to take a seat in front of the crackling fireplace. But then she suddenly remembered it was dinnertime. “I just finished a bowl of stew. Would you like to eat something?” she asked politely.
“No. I had supper with your parents. Cesar is such a good cook that I couldn’t down another bite. Unless it was dessert,” he added impishly.
“In that case, we’ll go to the kitchen,” she told him. “I was just about to dig into a pecan pie.”
Ileana guided him out of the cozy living room, through an open doorway and directly into a kitchen that seemed even smaller with Mac in it.
“Have a seat,” she invited, as she gestured toward a round pine table situated near a glass patio door. “Would you like coffee, too?”
“Coffee would be nice. Black will be fine.”
Ileana went to the cabinet and began to pull down cups and saucers. While she gathered the coffee and pie, she could hear him taking a seat at the table. Just thinking about him being here in her house, so near and touchable, made her hands tremble, and she silently scolded herself as she fumbled the pieces of pie onto small breakfast plates.
As she placed everything on the table, she carefully kept a polite distance between them. Yet in spite of that, she felt breathless and terribly foolish for reacting so strongly to the man.
“I suppose I should reassure you that I didn’t bake the pie,” she said as she took a seat across from him.
He chuckled. “Why? Are you a bad cook?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Not exactly bad. The things I do know how to cook turn out pretty well. But I only know how to make a few dishes. Mother says I always had my nose stuck in a test tube instead of an oven, and I suppose she’s right.”
As Mac dug into the pie, he decided Ileana was much more animated tonight. It was good to see, he realized, and even better that she didn’t appear to be annoyed by his showing up on her doorstep.
After last night, when he’d practically forced her into having dinner with him, he’d promised himself that he wouldn’t barge in on her private life like this. But he’d desperately wanted to see her again, and all it had taken was a little nudge from Chloe and Wyatt to put him on the road to Ileana’s house.
Mac forced his gaze away from her face and around the room. “I like your home. The outside is beautiful. And the inside is comfortable and homey.”
Before he’d arrived here at Ileana’s, he’d pictured her as having a modest brick or siding house with a neat fenced lawn that would grow flowers and green grass in the summer. He’d been shocked to see her home was nothing like that. Perched on the steep mountainside, the place was wild and untouched, yet simple and inviting at the same time. Exactly like Ileana.
Across the table, Ileana blushed at his compliment. “Well, it’s nothing fancy. But I’m not fancy. Since it’s just me I keep things the way I like them.”
Her gaze flickered shyly up to his. “What is your home like, Mac?”
He swallowed down a bite of pie before he answered. “Nothing this fine. I live in an old farmhouse on a hundred acres. The furnishings are things that I gathered up at old estate sales, and the yard consists of one mesquite tree, two oleander bushes and a few patches of Dallas grass. Every acre I own is flat and the dirt black.”
“Sounds like farmland. Is this the same home where you grew up?”
Mac shook his head. “No. After Dad died Ripp and I didn’t feel comfortable around our old family home. Dad’s last year there was pretty rough. Guess those images were too hard for us to shake. So we decided to sell it.”
She smiled gently, and Mac wondered if there had ever been a mean bone in her body. He very much doubted it. He couldn’t imagine her swatting a pesky bug, much less raising her voice to anyone.
“Well, I’m sure the place you have now is very nice,” she replied. “Do you do anything with the acreage?”
He could see a true interest on her face, and the sight drew him to her just that much more. Which didn’t make sense. Mac had always believed a set of flirtatious eyes and red lips were the things about a woman that caught his attention. How was it that Ileana’s simple curiosity about his life made him feel so pleased and important?
“I have twenty-five mama cows with calves at side, one bull and a couple of horses. With my deputy job, that’s about all the cattle I have time to care for.”
She nodded with understanding. “So who’s watching out for your livestock while you’re here in New Mexico?”
“Well, where I live we’re fortunate enough to have a warm enough climate that the grass stays year-round. So we don’t have to feed much in the winter—just a few cattle cubes, a molasses lick and a bit of hay. But to answer your question, a fellow deputy is taking care of them for me.”
“Oh.” Her gaze dropped to her plate, as though she was embarrassed about asking him personal questions. “I can’t imagine it not getting cold there. Does it snow?”
Mac chuckled. “Maybe once every forty or fifty years. Palms and banana trees and tropical plants like that grow where I live. Have you never been to South Texas?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve been to Fort Worth to a medical convention but that’s all.”
Even though she’d shown a bi
t of interest in his life, Mac realized he was far more curious about hers. Which was something that continued to surprise him. Normally he didn’t want to dig deep into a woman’s psyche. If she had a pleasant personality that was enough for him. He didn’t want to know what drove her. He didn’t want to uncover the deep longings in her heart. But with Ileana, he found himself wanting to know anything and everything about her.
“That’s a shame,” he gently scolded. “You need to come over and visit your neighbor once in a while.”
She put down her fork and picked up her coffee cup. “I don’t have much time for travel. I don’t like leaving my patients for very long. What about you? Do you travel much?”
His smile was a bit guilty. “No. I’ve only been to New Mexico once before and that was when I flew to Albuquerque to pick up a prisoner who was being extradited back to Bee County. Normally, the most traveling I do is driving over to Goliad County to visit with my brother.”
“It sounds as though neither one of us strays too far from home.”
“Sounds like,” he agreed.
Rising from the table, she carried what was left of her pie over to a trash basket positioned at the end of the cabinet counter.
As she raked the scraps from the plate, she said, “My sister, Anna, lives here on the ranch so I don’t have to drive but about a half mile to visit her.”
“I’ve met her husband, Miguel. He seems like a genuine guy.”
“Anna is very lucky to have Miguel. He adores her and their children, a son and two daughters.”
“What about your brother, Adam? Where does he live?” Mac asked.
“Only a few miles from here, but he comes to the ranch a lot. He and his wife, Maureen, have two sons.”
Mac had been totally surprised to see her dressed so casually in jeans and a T-shirt. He would have never expected her to even own a pair of jeans, but now that he could see her in them, he was darn glad she did. The worn denim clung to her rounded bottom and shapely thighs, giving him a nice hint at the body beneath.
“Chloe mentioned something about your siblings being twins. Is that right?”
She placed her dirty plate in the sink, then rejoined him at the table. “That’s true. Adam and Anna are twins. Did she also tell you that they’re actually my aunt and uncle, too?”
Her question caused him to do a double take, and he shook his head in confusion. “Pardon me, Ileana, did I hear you right? Your brother and sister are also your aunt and uncle, too? How did that happen?”
A wry smile touched her lips. “It’s a long story. So to make it shorter, I’ll just say that my grandfather, Tomas Murdock, was a—well, a bit of a rounder. He got involved with a woman less than half his age. Only none of his daughters knew about it until my aunt Justine came home one evening and found baby twins in a basket on the doorstep.”
“Oh, hell. That sounds like a movie or something.”
Ileana nodded. “I’m sure it does to you. But it really happened. And because Tomas had died a few months before, no one knew he was the father. It took a while, but Justine’s husband, Roy, who was sheriff of Lincoln County at the time, finally figured it all out. Turns out the mother of the twins was my father’s sister, Belinda Sanders.”
“Amazing. So were Chloe and Wyatt married then? How did they end up with the twins?”
“My parents weren’t married, but while all of this was being sorted out, they fell in love and married. At that time, it was thought that Chloe would never be able to give birth to a child of her own, so she and Wyatt adopted the twins. Thankfully, I came along shortly after and proved that prediction wrong.”
Finished with his pie, Mac picked up his coffee cup. “What about Belinda, the biological mother?” he asked with a thoughtful frown. “Didn’t she want the babies?”
A sad shadow crossed her face. “Belinda had a substance abuse problem that caught up to her. She died not long after she left the babies at the ranch. Seems she became totally distraught after Tomas died. I suppose she wasn’t emotionally strong enough to deal with losing him and caring for two infants.”
“That’s a hell of a story,” Mac said, then immediately shook his head with regret. “I didn’t mean that in a disrespectful way, Ileana, I just meant—it’s rather incredible. I can’t imagine what your family must have been feeling about the babies and your grandfather. Total shock, I suppose.”
Ileana nodded. “It was a scandal that rocked the whole county for a while. But now—well, I don’t bother explaining to anyone how my siblings came to be. I only told you because…you’re trying to figure out things about your family in the same way that mine had to. I thought it might help you to not feel so alone.”
He glanced at her. “I think you just explained why your mother offered to help me that first night we met. Chloe must have understood how I felt.”
“I believe you’re right about that.”
His gaze studied her face, and he suddenly realized that when he now looked at this woman the word plain never entered his head. True, she wasn’t painted with bright makeup, a chic hairstyle or flashy jewelry. But she had a quiet beauty that filled him with pleasure, a loveliness that wouldn’t fade with age. Because it was a loveliness that came from deep within.
“So why did you want to help me?” he asked.
Her gaze suddenly fell to the tabletop, and her fingers fidgeted with the handle on her cup.
“I’m a doctor,” she said after a moment. “Helping people is my business.”
Now why did that answer disappoint him? Hell, what was he expecting her to say? That she’d taken a sudden liking to him? That something about him had touched a compassionate note in her? It didn’t matter, he told himself. When it came right down to it, Ileana’s opinion of him meant nothing at all.
Liar, liar. You actually think you can make yourself believe that, Mac?
Feeling restless now, Mac rose to his feet and meandered over to the patio door. Beyond the glass it was mostly dark, but he could see enough to discern that the mountainside was only a few feet away. He could see juniper and sage whipping in the wind, and in that wind fat snowflakes were flying and smacking into the glass in front of his face.
“It’s snowing!” he exclaimed.
Behind him, Ileana left her seat at the table and walked over to where he stood.
“I didn’t realize snow was in the weather forecast,” she said softly as she peered out the window. “Maybe by morning you’ll get to see a heavy blanket.”
Her flowery scent and close presence was more than enough to distract him from the snowfall, and as he gazed at her warm auburn hair he couldn’t stop his fingers from tangling in the tresses or his body from moving closer.
“I’d rather look at you, Ileana,” he said simply.
He heard a little gasp escape her lips and then her head turned toward his. He could see uncertainty in her eyes, but he could also see longing, which was enough to justify pulling her into his arms.
“Mac,” she breathed his name as his head bent toward hers. “This is all so new to me.”
His lips brushed against hers as he spoke. “It’s all new for me, too, Ileana.”
Her expression dubious, she pulled slightly back from him. “But, Mac, you—”
“Yes, I’ve had a wife,” he reasoned. “And I’ve had other women in my life. But none of them have been like you, Ileana. You’re sweet and special, and I don’t even know how to behave around you, much less treat you. All I know is that I want you. And I think you want me, too.”
She emitted a groan that sent a surge of triumph through Mac and then suddenly her hands were resting against the middle of his chest, her lips were tilting invitingly up to his.
Mac closed the distance between their lips and wondered why his heart felt like it was singing.
Chapter Seven
A moment later, as the search of Mac’s lips deepened against hers, the only thought in Ileana’s head was that she was playing with fire. And if the flames got o
ut of control, she didn’t have a clue as to how to douse them. Or if she even wanted to end the consuming heat.
The warmth of Mac’s body was seeping into hers, melting her in the most delicious sort of way. His lips were setting off tiny explosions that made her head buzz and her whole body tingle. Instinctively she snuggled closer while her mouth opened to the seductive prod of his tongue. When it slipped past her teeth and began to mate with hers, a moan of surrender vibrated her throat; her hands slid upward and curved around the back of his neck.How had she lived so long without this man? Why had it taken him to wake up the woman inside her? The questions were racing wildly through Ileana’s mind when the ringing of her cell phone crashed through to her senses.
Slowly, reluctantly, she broke the contact of their lips and stepped back. “I—it’s—my phone,” she said in a strangely garbled voice. “I have to get it.”
She raced out of the kitchen, and, gulping in a ragged breath, Mac raked a shaky hand through his hair.
God, what was he doing? If the telephone hadn’t interrupted them, he might have been on his way to seducing her. Is that what he really wanted? To make her just another one of his bed partners?
He shoved the frustrating questions aside as he heard Ileana answer the phone and begin to speak.
“Yes, I’m here. No. I hadn’t planned on it. Codeine? No. She’s had a bad reaction to it before. She’s coughing because—Yes, I understand. But her heart is too weak.”
There was another long pause, and Mac was beginning to wonder if she was speaking to someone about Frankie Cantrell, when Ileana said, “Tell her I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Yes. Don’t apologize. She’s my patient.”
As she stepped back into the kitchen, Mac waited expectantly while she snapped the phone shut and jammed it into her jeans pocket.
“I’m sorry, Mac,” she apologized. “I have to go into the hospital.”
It took a moment for him to digest her words, and when he did, he walked rapidly over to her. “I understand you’re a doctor and that you have emergencies, but this—I guess it caught me off guard. And I—I’m selfish. Our evening has just started.”
A Texan on Her Doorstep Page 10