Читать книгу One Tiny Miracle: Branded with his Baby / The Baby Bump / An Accidental Family - Jennifer Greene - Страница 13

Much later, as Maura lay curled against Quint, her cheek pillowed by his chest, she listened to the even rhythm of his breathing, the slow beat of his heart, and knew they were sounds that would be with her for the rest of her life.

He’d taken her on a passionate trip the likes of which she’d never experienced. Even now, when she thought of how her whole body had exploded with pleasure, she was shocked and fascinated, dazed that he could have turned her into such a wild, uninhibited woman.

Oh, my, what had had happened? Making love to Quint had only shown her how much she’d done wrong. She’d not known that her ex-husband had been a selfish lover. Because Gil had been her first and only lover, she’d not had anyone to compare him to. But now, after Quint had touched her, lifted her to the sky and back, she realized she’d been missing so much, had wasted so many years on a one-sided relationship.

“I think the rain is letting up,” Quint murmured against the top of her head. “But who cares? I could stay here all night. Just like this.”

Moments ago, he’d pulled the Navajo blanket over them and now that the cooler air from the storm was filling the old storeroom, the warmth from the woven wool was welcome.

“Mmm. I’m thinking I could stay here forever,” she said drowsily. “But something or someone would eventually show up to interrupt us.”

She could feel his sigh ruffle her hair and then his hand was alongside her cheek, tilting her face up to his. When she looked into his blue eyes, her heart squeezed with bittersweet longing. Would he ever want to be with her again like this? Was she crazy to want to snatch what pleasure she could, whenever she could?

“Maura, before we leave here … I wanted you to know that this thing that’s happened between us—I hadn’t planned. Just in case you thought I’d calculated all this—”

He broke off as the upper part of her began to shake with soft chuckles.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Am I funny or something?”

“Oh, Quint,” she murmured, then scooting her whole body upward, she planted a kiss on his cheek. “For as long as I live, I would have never thought any such thing. You planning this with me? It’s funny.”

His expression sober, he arched one brow at her. “Really? What’s so funny about it?”

Seeing he wasn’t amused, she pressed her cheek against his. “I’m sorry if that didn’t sound quite right. It’s just that you—you can have any woman you want, Quint. The idea that you’d purposely pursue me is … well, ridiculous.”

With his hands in her hair, he eased her face back from his. “Maura, I think I need to set your thinking straight about a few things. I’m not a playboy. I don’t go after women.”

“Of course not. You don’t have to.”

He groaned with frustration. “Okay, let me put it this way,” he said. “Since the breakup with Holly, I’ve tried to date, to get interested in other women. And yes, I’ve had a few females deliberately try to catch my attention. But none of them sparked anything in me. Until now. Until you.”

Could she believe him? Yes, she decided. Because he was talking about sexual desire, about that special spark of chemistry between a man and a woman. He wasn’t talking about love. That was a whole other thing. A thing that he would never likely bring up. Nor would she.

Swallowing at the thickening in her throat, she said, “Then I’m very flattered, Quint, that you were attracted to me.”

One corner of his rugged mouth turned upward. “And I’m very flattered that you wanted to get this close to me.”

Her hand settled on the curve of his shoulder, then slipped down the hard, corded slope of his arm. Oh, yes, she thought, she wanted to be close to this man in a thousand, million ways.

“When you take a woman on a ride, you really take her on a ride,” she teased softly.

He looked at her with faint disdain and then suddenly he was laughing, twisting her beneath him, and lowering his face down to hers. “You’re good for me, Maura. You make me laugh. And that’s not easy. Just ask Jake what I’m really like.”

Her fingertip traced heart-shaped patterns upon his face. “I’d rather ask you.”

He looked at her, his eyes gliding hungrily over her flushed cheeks and swollen lips, the tangled hair hiding one green eye.

“I’m not an easy man to like, Maura. I’m quiet and moody. And small talk mostly bores me. I’d rather be with my horses. I don’t particularly like money and I hate crowds.”

Her lips curved into a sexy little purse. “Mmm. You sound like a terrible sort of man. Anything else I should know?”

“Yeah. I don’t know anything about being romantic and even if I did, I wouldn’t bother.”

“Why?”

“Because romance is looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. And when a woman looks at me, I want her to clearly see the flaws she’d be getting.”

In order to keep her away? Maura decided the answer to that question didn’t matter. She was looking at him and the future with clear eyes. Quint was a straightforward guy. She’d gone into his arms knowing not to pin any sort of hopes and dreams on the two of them being together permanently.

“Don’t worry,” she replied. “I won’t be expecting flowers.”

He stared at her for long moments and then his mouth crushed down on hers in a kiss that wiped everything from her mind and stirred the want in her all over again.

“Maybe we’d better stay here a little longer,” he whispered huskily. “Until the rain stops.”

Almost a week later, Quint found himself driving up the narrow dirt road that led to his grandfather’s ranch house. For the past few days, he’d fought the urge to return to Apache Wells. He didn’t have the time or energy to make the forty-mile drive often. Hell, he didn’t need to remind himself that he had a ranch of his own to run. With cattle to buy, fences to build, feeders to erect and horses to move from the Chaparral to the Golden Spur, he hardly had time to draw a good breath. But here he was anyway, he thought wryly. Because, in spite of his work and exhaustion, he desperately wanted to see Maura again.

Maura. With her wine-red hair and sea-green eyes. She’d bewitched him. That’s what she’d done. He could scarcely close his eyes without thinking of her naked, her hips arching up to his, scattering his senses like bits of grass in the wind. He’d expected to enjoy making love to her. After all, she was pretty and sexy; a combination hard for any man to resist. But he’d also expected the incident to be a brief encounter to enjoy for the moment, then sweep entirely from his mind.

Face it, Quint. The woman turned you inside out. She shot you straight to heaven, then let you fall back to earth with the slow rocking motion of a drifting feather. You’d never felt anything like it. And now you’re beginning to wonder if she’s something special. The sex was special, you fool. Not her. Get over it.

The cynical voice that had followed Quint around for the last six years tormented him until he braked his truck to a halt in front of the house and climbed out. Yeah, it probably was pure sex that had pushed him to drive forty miles this evening when he should have been taking an early night at home, he thought. But what was wrong with that? He was a man after all. And a man had needs.

To his surprise, he found Abe in his recliner, the television off and a Bible lying open on his lap. Maura wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Hey, Gramps,” he greeted.

Looking up with surprise, Abe carefully folded the book together. “Well,” he said mockingly, “the long-lost grandson has finally decided to honor me with a visit.”

Quint grimaced. “Don’t give me that bull. I was just over here last week. You expect me to come over here and hold your hand every day?”

Abe wiped a hand over his drooping white mustache. “No. After one or two days your smart lip would get mighty tryin’,” he countered.

Quint took a seat on the end of the couch, while looking and listening for signs of Maura. The house seemed exceptionally quiet and he couldn’t smell any sort of cooking coming from the kitchen.

“What are you doing in the house?” Quint asked him. “I thought you’d be down at the bunkhouse, playing cards with Jim and having coffee.”

“If you thought that, what are you doing in the house?” Abe parried.

Quint was shocked to feel his face flushing with heat. There was no point for him to hide his interest in Maura. Abe was too crafty for that. “I wanted to talk to Maura.”

“Well, you should have called first. She ain’t here.”

Quint had called three days ago. His conversation with Maura had been pleasant but brief, during which he’d told her he’d see her in a few days. The few days were up and here he was feeling like an idiot for presuming she’d be sitting around his grandfather’s ranch, waiting for him to make an appearance.

“Where is she?”

Abe placed the Bible on the end table next to his chair. “She’s at the hospital.”

It was all Quint could do to keep from leaping to his feet. “Hospital! Has something happened to her? And you didn’t call me?”

Beneath his bushy brows, Abe leveled a disgusted look at him. “Hell, boy, if something was wrong with Maura you think I’d be sitting here?”

Relief pouring through him, Quint rubbed his palms down his thighs. “No,” he conceded gruffly, “I guess not.”

“Damn right I wouldn’t,” Abe stormed back at him. “I’d be right by her side. That’s how a man shows his love.”

Caught by those last words, Quint’s brows arched with dismay. “You love Maura?”

Abe snorted as though Quint’s question was absurd. “Of course I love her. I’ve loved her from the first moment I laid eyes on her.”

Hell. That’s exactly what Quint had feared all along. “I see.”

“No, damn it, you don’t see. You haven’t seen much of anything about women since that silly little Johnson gal threw you over the fence for another man. You think they’re all like her, that they’ve all got their claws out for you. Well, if you’d take the time to look, you’d see that Maura doesn’t have any claws. That’s one of the reasons I love her.”

Dear God, Quint hadn’t driven for nearly an hour to get this sort of preaching, to hear his grandfather admit that he loved the same woman that Quint had taken to his bed. This was insanity.

“Okay. You’ve made your point, Gramps,” he said wearily. “You’re in love with the woman and I should realize that she’s an angel.”

Abe’s boots banged loudly against the footrest as he positioned the chair upright and got to his feet. “Quint, I didn’t say I was ‘in’ love with Maura. I said I loved her. There’s a difference. Sometimes a man has to know his limitations and I can see that she’s too young for me. So,” he said with a shrug, “I just have to settle with havin’ her company. Until she gets tangled up with a man who’ll give her a family.”

Quint let out a pent-up breath. “She’s told you that she wants a family?”

“Not in so many words. But I can just tell when a woman is ripe for that sort of thing.”

If that was the case, then Abe knew a hell of a lot more than Quint knew. From what Maura had implied to him, she wasn’t ready to jump into a serious situation with any man. That was one of the reasons Quint had been drawn to her in the first place. He didn’t have to worry about her getting all clingy and demanding.

“Tell me, Gramps, did Granny know that you were such an expert on women?”

“‘Course she did. She taught me everything I know.” He motioned for Quint to follow him to the kitchen. “C’mon. Let’s find us something to eat. And maybe Maura will show up before long.”

A few minutes later, when Maura arrived and spotted Quint’s truck parked near the front gate, her heart leaped into a dizzying speed. Even though darkness had just now settled over the ranch, daylight savings time made the hour late. Had he made the long drive to see his grandfather? Or her?

After parking her car beneath a covered carport at the back, she entered the house through the kitchen door and discovered both men sitting at the table, eating leftovers from the day before.

As soon as Quint spotted her, he immediately rose to his feet and Maura felt something melt inside as her gaze connected with his blue eyes.

“Come sit with us, Maura,” he invited. “Gramps was just telling me that Brady was involved in some sort of scrape.”

Brady was Maura’s youngest brother had worked as the chief deputy to Lincoln County’s sheriff, Ethan Hamilton. Earlier this afternoon, when Maura had gotten the call that he’d been wounded, she’d left the ranch at breakneck speed and with a litany of prayers passing her lips, sped to the hospital. The ordeal had drained her, but now, seeing Quint was refueling her with happy pleasure.

Shoving a hand through her hair, she pushed the disheveled strands away from her face. “Yes, unfortunately. Some of the men in the department had set up a drug sting and things went amiss when one of the dealers smelled a rat. He pulled out a gun and began shooting. Brady’s arm was hit with a small caliber bullet, but thankfully it was a flesh wound and should heal in a short time.”

She walked over to the table, where Quint already had a chair pulled out for her. As he helped her into it, his closeness shook her, reminded her that she’d spent the past several nights lying awake thinking about him and the way he’d made love to her in such a thorough, precious way.

“That’s good to hear,” Abe said. “Lord knows that brother of yours earns his money the hard way.”

Maura smiled at the old man. “Being a deputy is what he loves to do. Like I love nursing you.” She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “Have you been feeling okay while I was gone?”

He grinned at her. “If I felt any better I’d have to go out and jump a fence. And Quint here showed up to keep me company. That’s somethin’ that don’t happen every day.”

At the opposite end of the table, Quint cleared his throat. “We were just having a little supper, Maura. Would you like a plate? Something to drink?” he asked.

She wanted none of those things. She simply wanted to be in his arms, to feel herself all wrapped up against his hard body, his lips moving against hers. Oh my, oh my, what had this man done to her? She was sex-crazed, but only one certain man would do.

“No thanks. Before I left the hospital, I had something with Bridget and my grandmother.”

“Kate was there?” Abe asked with surprise.

Maura smiled to herself. From time to time Abe had brought up the subject of Maura’s grandmother, Kate. It was obvious he was interested in the woman, but she doubted he’d ever admit it, especially to Kate. If anything, Kate was even bolder spoken than Abe. Sparks would fly if the two of them ever got together.

“Dad couldn’t keep her away. She’s always been especially close to Brady. Maybe because he’s the baby and much more like her than any of us. But everything is under control and when I left the hospital the rest of my family were heading for home.”

“That’s good,” Abe said, then abruptly rose to his feet. “Well, that’s about all I can eat right now. I’m gonna head down to the bunkhouse and see if Jim’s up to a game of poker. Damn man skinned me for thirty dollars last night. I gotta win it back.”

“It’s dark outside,” Quint warned him. “You’d better drive.”

“I know how to get to my own bunkhouse,” he muttered as he disappeared out the door.

Bemused by the old man’s quick departure, Quint said, “What’s wrong with him? He always wants coffee after he eats.”

“From what he tells me, Jim always keeps a pot going on the stove,” Maura reasoned.

“Well, the way he scooted out of here, you’d think he wanted to leave us alone,” Quint said, then leveled a suggestive look at her. “What do you think?”

Heat swept through her body, making it feel like her cotton dress was actually a heavy woolen coat. Refraining from fanning herself, she rose to her feet and began to gather Abe’s dirty dishes.

“Clearly,” she said as she carried the things over to the sink.

Not bothering with his own dishes, Quint left the table and walked up behind her. As he slipped his arms around her waist and pressed his lips to the back of her neck, he said in a voice muffled by her skin, “I think the old man needs psychotherapy. He says he loves you.”

She didn’t so much as flinch. Instead, she asked, “Are you saying a man has to be mentally ill to love me?”

The coolness in her voice told him he’d gone at this all wrong. “No. But Gramps is eighty-four.”

“So. You don’t think you’ll be capable of loving at eighty-four?”

Hell, he wasn’t sure he was capable of loving a woman at twenty-nine, he thought. These past years since his break with Holly he’d tried to get close to other women, tried to recapture that blissful state of mind he’d had with his first sweetheart. But the most he’d experienced was a cold sweat, a sick repulsion at the idea of handing any woman the reins to his future.

Quint figured by the time he reached Abe’s age, his heart would more than likely be as hard as a piece of granite. Maybe it was now, he thought bitterly. Maybe Holly had turned him to stone and he’d never be able to love again.

Lifting his head, he answered, “Not a woman fifty years my junior!”

Twisting around, she slipped her arms around his midsection and linked her hands behind his back. “Oh, Quint,” she said with a soft laugh, “Abe loves me as a daughter.”

Her laughter was all he needed to lighten his thoughts and he smiled at her. “I suppose you’re right. I just don’t want his old heart broken.”

As for his own heart, Quint wasn’t worried about that. After all, a piece of rock wasn’t capable of getting all soft and soppy and vulnerable.

“I was surprised to see you here tonight,” she said huskily.

“Why? I told you on the phone that I’d see you soon.”

The husky note in his voice sent a shiver of anticipation down Maura’s spine. “That could mean anything. And you’ve been very busy.”

“Jake and I have finally started stocking the ranch and for the past week, we’ve been moving cattle and horses from dawn ‘til dusk. I’ve hardly taken time to eat.” His hands gently framed her face. “But—oh, honey, you ought to know I’ve been going crazy to be with you again.”

She sighed. “I’ve been wanting to see you again, too.”

He bent his head and his lips wrapped desperately over hers. The force of his kiss rocked her head backward and she moaned as her hands reached for the anchor of his shoulders.

In spite of the overhead lighting, his kiss was tugging her down into a swirling darkness where there was nothing but his hands sizzling over her skin, his mouth demanding, yet at the same time giving.

When their lips finally broke apart and his forehead was resting against hers, she sucked in ragged breaths and attempted to calm her racing heart.

“This is crazy, Quint!”

“Yeah. But a good kind of crazy.”

He pressed his lips across her forehead, then along one cheekbone, while goose bumps danced over Maura’s skin.

“The way I want you is indecent,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t be making me feel like this.”

Her head tilted sideways as his lips began a downward trail on the side of her neck, then paused against the throbbing vein at the juncture of her shoulder.

“I’ve got to make love to you, Maura.”

“Yes.” The word floated out on a sigh.

His lips began working their way back up her throat and toward her lips. Aching with need, Maura’s hips shamelessly arched into his.

“Not here—not in your grandfather’s house,” she uttered with dismay.

Groaning with frustration, he dipped his hand beneath the hem of her skirt, then glided his hand up her thigh until his fingers reached the silky fabric of her panties. While he teased the flesh of one buttock, he whispered, “Gramps will be gone for hours.”

Knowing that she couldn’t succumb to his seductive persuasions on this matter, she purposely pushed at his shoulders to wedge a few cooling inches between them. “Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t feel right.”

Seeing she meant what she said, Quint grabbed her hand and began tugging her toward the door. “C’mon. I know somewhere we can go.”

“Go? Now?” she asked dazedly. “Where?”

“You’ll see. It’s not far.”

Unable to resist, Maura allowed him to lead her outside to the front of the house, where he quickly helped her into the cab of his truck. As he pulled away from the ranch house, a sense of reckless anticipation came over her and she looked at him as though they’d suddenly turned into sneaky partners in crime.

“What if Abe returns to the house and finds us gone? What are we going to tell him?”

Quint chuckled. “That I took you sightseeing.”

Maura groaned with misgiving. “In the dark? The man isn’t that ancient, Quint.”

“Does it matter what he thinks?”

He reached across the seat for her hand and as his fingers closed around hers, she could feel her heart throbbing with excitement. What normal woman wouldn’t thrill at the idea of her lover carrying her off in the dark to a secret hideaway?

“No,” she whispered truthfully. “It can’t matter.”

About two miles from the house, he turned onto a dim dirt road that led north toward the mountains. During her morning jogs, Maura had noticed the road, but never explored it.

“Are we still on Apache Wells?” she asked after he’d driven for another five minutes.

By now the road had grown bumpy and a dense pine forest had narrowed the road down to the width of a single vehicle. As the truck climbed the rough terrain, Maura gripped the seat in order to steady herself.

“Honey, you have to drive ten miles back to the main highway before you’re off of Apache Wells.”

“I wasn’t sure. We’re going toward the mountains. And it doesn’t look like anyone travels this road very often.”

“Only me. And if any cattle go astray, the ranch hands might use it. But that’s rare.”

She was peering out the windshield, wondering how much farther the truck could handle the rough terrain when suddenly the road planed out, and straight ahead, in the beam of the headlights, stood a small log cabin embraced by a stand of tall pines.

Quint quickly stopped the truck, then helped her to ground. As they walked toward the entrance, their footsteps made silent by pine needles, Maura got the sense that the structure was old. Possibly even older than the ranch itself.

Using his shoulder, Quint shoved the door inward, then ordered her to stay put until he provided light.

Standing in the doorway, the cool night air to her back and the silence of the woods surrounding them, a brief moment of stark sanity raced through her mind.

What was she doing here? With a man younger than her and definitely far less committed? Had she lost her senses and thrown every scrap of self-respect to the wind?

Commitment. Self-respect. She’d had those things before. Or so she’d believed. They had brought her nothing but heartache. Being with Quint brought her joy. And no matter how short-lived that joy was she was going to take it, savor it and be glad for it.

After Quint lit a kerosene lantern and a fat candle, he motioned for Maura to enter the small, one-room cabin. As she stepped onto the bare, wooden floor and glanced around at the crude fixtures, he said, “It’s a little dusty. But not bad. I’ll open the windows and that should give us some fresh air.”

At the front of the room, Quint unlatched two wooden squares that pushed outward to create window spaces. After he’d securely propped them and the cool night air rushed in, he walked back to where she stood by a tiny table holding the burning lamp.

“Alone. At last,” he said with a growl of satisfaction.

Maura’s heart leaped to a reckless speed as his hands settled at the sides of her waist. “You’ve taken a lot of trouble to get me up here,” she said huskily.

In the dim glow of the lamp, she watched his gaze travel straight to her swollen lips and her loins clenched with desire.

“And you’re worth every minute of it.”

He was not a man to hand her lines and as he pulled her into his arms, she wondered if he’d actually meant the words he’d whispered.

Don’t go trying to figure the man now, Maura. Just remember this time with him isn’t forever and you’ll be okay.

Closing her eyes, she turned her lips up to his and as his kiss swept her into a vortex of pleasures she forgot about his motives and plans or the condition her heart might be in tomorrow. Tonight was all about him and her being together and nothing else.

Before long he was removing her clothing and carrying her to a built-in bunk spread with a down comforter. From the small bed, she watched him undress in the dim yellow glow of the lamplight and as the soft shadows slipped fingers across his hard body, her throat thickened with emotions she didn’t understand or even want to analyze.

This amazing man wanted her. Needed her. That was enough for now.

At Chillicothe, she’d believed it impossible for Quint to thrill her more, to take her to even higher heights with his lovemaking, but somehow he did and it was a long time afterward before she could find the strength or composure to utter a word.

Lying in his arms, her body lax and replete, she rested her cheek upon his shoulder and savored the feel of his fingertips marking a gentle trail from her hip to her breast and back again.

“What is this place?” she asked drowsily.

“Our hideaway,” he murmured.

By now the candle had burned out and the single flame of the lamp mottled the chinked walls with golden splashes of light. Beyond the open windows and above the tops of the pines, she could see a portion of the black sky riddled with stars and at that moment it was impossible to think of a more beautiful place to be.

Her lips tilted to a dreamy smile. “I mean before.”

“The cabin was here before Gramps built the ranch and we figured pioneers must have lived here long ago. At one time Gramps used it as a hunting cabin. But now he’d rather feed the deer than shoot them. And so do I.”

“Do you come here often?”

He shifted ever so slightly, and then she felt his lips brushing against the crown of her hair. It was such a sweet and loving contact that her throat suddenly stung with tears.

“No. The last time I was here was more than a year ago, when I learned that my mother had kept a secret life from me and my sister, Alexa.”

“I heard bits and pieces about that even before I returned to Hondo Valley. Knowing your lovely mother, it’s still hard for me to imagine her having another family that no one knew about.”

He sighed and Maura could only imagine what the ordeal with Frankie Cantrell had done to him. It hurt to think of him going through such emotional turmoil. Like her, everything he’d believed in had been ripped asunder and she knew firsthand the deep wounds that deception left behind.

“No one knew about her first marriage but my father,” he said lowly. “And he took the secret to his grave. Seems my parents decided that it would be too hard on Alexa and me to know that we had brothers in Texas, but couldn’t associate with them. You see, Mom’s first husband was abusive. She was forced to run from him and didn’t stop running until she reached Ruidoso. He must have been a real bastard. On the other hand there must have been some good in the man because my two half brothers are great guys.”

She smoothed her palm across his broad chest. “You get along with them?”

“Oh, sure. Why do you ask? Did you think I might resent them?”

“It would be only natural to feel resentment. Especially since Abe told me that your mother makes regular trips to Texas to see them.”

His hand lifted from her hip and then his fingers pushed into her long hair to lift the strands away from her cheek and neck.

“I’d never be jealous of that. Mac and Ripp have families and she needs to be a part of their lives. She missed out on so much. And Alexa lives there now, too. So she has plenty of reasons to go there often.”

“You ever get the itch to move closer to your siblings?” she asked thoughtfully.

“Move from New Mexico? Away from Gramps? Never. This land is a part of my soul. And Gramps is—well, ever since I’ve been big enough to walk, he’s been my hero.” With a throaty groan, he rolled her onto her back and poised his lips over hers. “Besides, if I moved to Texas, you’d have to come up here to the cabin by yourself. And that wouldn’t be any fun at all.”

No. Life without Quint would be boring and lonely, Maura thought. It was something she refused to think about. At least, for tonight.

“How lucky for me that you’re not a wanderer,” she murmured, then latching her fingers around the back of his neck, she pulled his head down to hers and closed the last bit of space between their lips.