Читать книгу Tempted By The Texan - Kathie DeNosky - Страница 8
ОглавлениеAfter working all day on the ranch he’d bought a few months back, Jaron Lambert sauntered into the Broken Spoke looking for three things—a steak dinner; a cold beer; and a warm, willing woman for a night of no-strings-attached fun. But as he sat down at one of the tables and surveyed the dimly lit roadhouse, he knew he would be settling on the steak and beer, then heading back to his place—alone.
It wasn’t that there weren’t any women in the bar or that they hadn’t paid attention to him when he entered. There were a couple playing pool and a few more sitting at two tables shoved together, looking as if they might be having a girls’ night out. One of them had even smiled at him with a come-hither expression on her pretty face. But none of them piqued his interest enough for more than a passing glance. Maybe all the hard work to get his ranch in shape was catching up with him. More than likely it was because none of the women were a certain leggy brunette with the greenest eyes he’d ever seen.
Disgusted with himself for wanting a woman he knew damned good and well he could never have, he decided that he’d have been better off calling a couple of his five brothers to see if they wanted to join him for supper. If he had, at least he would have had someone to talk to while he ate. But they all had wives and kids now, and he could appreciate them wanting to spend the time with their families.
“What can I get for you, handsome?” a young, gum-snapping waitress asked, walking up to his table.
“I’ll just have a bottle of Lone Star,” he answered, deciding to forego the steak and just have a beer. As soon as he finished draining the bottle, he’d head back home to heat up a pizza and spend the rest of the evening in front of the television.
“One beer coming right up,” she said, giving him a bright smile. After a minute, she returned, plunked down a napkin on the worn Formica tabletop and set the bottle on top of it. “You’re Jaron Lambert, aren’t you?” Her smile widened into a flirty grin when he nodded. “You won the World All-Around Championship at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas just before Christmas, didn’t you?”
“Yup.” When she continued to stand there expectantly, he gave in and asked what he figured she was waiting on. “So you were there?”
“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t afford a trip to Vegas on what I make here. I watched it on satellite TV.” She gave him an enticing smile. “You sure looked sexy when they awarded you that buckle.”
He could tell by the look on her face that she was interested in more than just talking about his big win in Las Vegas. Unfortunately for her, he wasn’t. He had dodged more than his fair share of buckle bunnies—young women who flirted and hoped to sleep with a cowboy in possession of a championship belt buckle—over the years, and he was glad that part of his life was behind him. Hopefully with his retirement from rodeo after the finals a couple of months ago, that type of woman would lose interest in him and move on to another cowboy who didn’t care if he became nothing more than a notch on a groupie’s bedpost.
When he didn’t respond to her comment and expectant expression, she shrugged one shoulder. “Well, if you need anything else—anything at all—just let me know.”
“Thanks,” Jaron said, taking a swig of his beer as he watched the waitress move over to another table where three men sat. It was clear one of them was going to get lucky and be invited to join her for a night of fun after she got off work.
After downing his beer, he got several dollars out of his wallet and tossed them on top of the table. There was no sense sitting there paying for more beer when he had a cold twelve-pack in his refrigerator at home.
But just as he started to get up, he noticed a woman walk through the door and up to the bar. He uttered a word under his breath that he reserved for smashed thumbs and card games with his brothers as he settled back down in his chair. What the hell was she doing here?
She was wearing a red dress that fit her body like a glove, and there was very little left to the imagination about the size of her breasts or the curve of her slender hips. He swallowed back another curse as his gaze drifted lower. That little red number she wore ended about midthigh and gave him more than a fair idea of how long and shapely her legs were. But it was the shiny black high heels she had on that caused him to grind his teeth. Those four-inch spikes were the kind a man looked at and knew the woman wearing them was just asking for him to take her home and pleasure her throughout the night.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only guy in the room to notice. As Jaron watched, a seedy-looking cowboy with a Skoal ring on the hip pocket of his jeans and a leering grin walked up beside her. She glanced at the man, shook her head and turned back to speak to the bartender. It was crystal clear she wasn’t buying what the good old boy was selling.
Jaron decided he wasn’t going anywhere. At least not while Mariah Stanton was standing there looking for all the world like every man’s midnight fantasy.
But as he watched the cowboy try to get her to pay attention to him, Jaron could tell from the look on the man’s face that there was going to be trouble. The guy wanted her, and she didn’t want any part of him. Unfortunately, the son of a bitch was either too drunk, too stupid or too determined to take no for an answer.
When the jerk reached out and took hold of her upper arm, Mariah recoiled, and that was when Jaron came up out of his chair to cross the room like a bull out of the bucking chute. Without a moment’s hesitation, he planted his right fist along the man’s jaw and watched the bastard hit the floor in an undignified heap.
“Jaron?” Mariah sounded startled when she looked over her shoulder at him. “What are you doing?”
“Saving your pretty little ass from getting into more trouble than you can handle,” he retorted angrily.
“You knocked out Roy Lee!” one of the man’s friends shouted, taking a step toward Jaron.
“Do we have a problem?” Jaron growled through clenched teeth as he quickly moved Mariah behind him out of harm’s way.
A good six inches shorter than Jaron’s six-foot-two-inch height, the man stared at him a moment then hastily shook his head. “I ain’t got no quarrel with you, dude,” he said, hastily taking a couple of steps in the opposite direction.
“Then, I strongly suggest you pick Roy Lee up off the floor and leave me and the lady alone,” Jaron ordered.
As Roy Lee’s friends hauled him to his feet, Jaron turned and, putting his arm around Mariah’s waist, ushered her out of the place. She tried to pull away from him, but he tightened his arm around her and didn’t stop as he guided her out the exit and toward her car in the parking lot.
“Jaron, have you lost your mind?” she asked as he hurried her along.
“What the hell do you think you were doing walking into a cowboy bar looking for all the world as if you’re advertising for a roll in the hay, Mariah?” he demanded when they reached her compact sedan.
“I don’t look like I’m advertising for any such thing,” she said, jerking away from him. “And what’s wrong with the way I’m dressed? I think I look just fine.”
Jaron folded his arms across his chest and let his gaze slide from the top of her dark brown hair to the soles of her impossibly high heels. That was the problem. She did look fine. Too fine.
He ignored her question and asked one of his own. “What in the name of Sam Hill did you think you were doing stopping by the Broken Spoke alone?”
“Not that it’s any of your concern, but I had a dinner meeting in Fort Worth and on my way back home my car started making an odd noise. I managed to get it into this parking lot just before it died completely, and after I discovered that my cell phone needed recharging, I went inside to call a tow truck.”
He watched her emerald eyes narrow as she glared at him. “And even if I had been there for other reasons, it’s none of your business. I can handle situations like what happened in there all by myself.”
“Oh, yeah? Is that why old Roy Lee put his filthy hands on you?” Jaron asked, doing his best to hold on to his temper. “The minute that bastard grabbed hold of your arm he made it my business.”
When he’d seen the man touch her, Jaron had damned near come unglued. Aside from the fact that he took exception to any man forcing his attention on a woman when it was clear she didn’t want it, the woman in question had been Mariah. As long as he had a single breath left in his body, nobody was going to treat her with anything but complete respect.
“Really? It’s your business? You’ve made it perfectly clear all these years that you have absolutely no interest in anything I do.” She shook her head. “You can’t have it both ways, Jaron. Either you are interested or you aren’t.”
“You’re my sister-in-law’s kid sister,” he said stubbornly. “I’m just watching out for you.”
“Oh, good grief! Get over it, Jaron.” She rested her hands on her sexy hips. “In case you haven’t noticed lately, I’m no longer a naive eighteen-year-old girl. I’ve grown up. I’m twenty-five and perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Jaron took a deep breath. Oh, he’d noticed several years ago that Mariah wasn’t the teenager he had met when his foster brother Sam Rafferty had married Bria Stanton. Back then Mariah had had a crush on him, and although he had found her attractive, he knew that a nine-year age difference made him too old for her. But over the years, he would have had to be as blind as a bat not to notice that she had grown into a beautiful, sexy woman. And that was the problem.
Interested didn’t even begin to cover what he felt for Mariah. He wouldn’t call it love. Hell, he’d have to believe in the emotion before he could say that was what it was. But he did find himself thinking about her a lot, and whenever the family got together for birthdays dinners or holidays, he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
“I don’t care how old you are. There’s no sense in putting yourself into a dangerous situation,” he insisted.
“Dangerous?” She laughed and the sound sent a shock wave of heat straight through him. She pointed toward the entrance to the bar. “Sam brings Bria here for dinner all the time. For that matter, the rest of your brothers bring their wives here, as well. We both know they wouldn’t dream of doing that if they thought they were placing the women in jeopardy.”
It was Jaron’s turn to laugh. “Do you honestly think that some dust-covered cowboy would have the guts to try putting the moves on one of my sisters-in-law with my brothers right there to knock them flat?”
Continuing to glare at him, she shook her head. “I’m not going to get into a debate with you about your antiquated idea that women need a man’s protection whenever they go out.” She started to brush past him to go back into the bar. “I’ve had a trying day, I’m tired and I need to make that phone call.”
“Not in there you’re not,” Jaron said, placing his hands on her slender shoulders to stop her.
“Jaron Lambert, I swear if you don’t—”
Before he could stop himself, he pulled her close and brought his mouth down on hers to silence her. But the moment he tasted her perfect coral lips, he lost every ounce of sense he’d ever possessed and gave in to years of temptation and denial.
Wrapping his arms around her, Jaron settled Mariah against him, and the feel of her breasts crushed to his chest, her body touching his from their shoulders to their knees, set a fire in his belly that he thought just might burn him to a crisp. Without a thought to the consequences, he traced the seam of her mouth with his tongue to coax her to open for him. When she did, he slipped inside to explore her inner recesses.
As he stroked and teased her, she grabbed the front of his jeans jacket with both hands for support as she sagged against him. That fueled the fire in his belly to a fever pitch, and his erection was not only inevitable—it caused him to feel light-headed from its intensity. Tightening his arms around her, he held her to him and he knew the second she felt the evidence of his need when she shivered and pressed herself even closer.
His heart stalled as another wave of heat flowed through his veins. He had wanted her for so damned long, if he didn’t put some distance between them, and real quick, he wasn’t sure he would be able to. But when he tried to ease away from the kiss, Mariah’s lips clung to his and he knew it was going to take every ounce of strength he could muster to move away from her.
Forcing himself to take a step back before she made him forget he was a gentleman, he took a deep breath. “What seems to be wrong with your car?”
“I...uh, I’m not sure,” she said, sounding as winded as he felt. “I heard a noise and a few minutes later I noticed the lights were dimming. By the time I parked it here, they went out completely and the engine died. When I turned the key to restart it, all it did was make a clicking sound.”
“It sounds as if you might have a bad battery or the alternator went out,” he said, thankful to focus on something besides the enticing woman standing next to him. It appeared that neither wanted to mention the kiss, and that was just fine with him. The less said about his lapse of judgment, the better.
“Is that expensive?” she asked, nibbling on her lower lip. She wasn’t trying to be provocative, but it was all he could do to keep from kissing her again.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll have my men come and get your car in the morning and see what they can do. I’ve got a hired hand who can fix just about anything with four tires and a motor.”
“That’s great, but how am I supposed to get home tonight?” she asked, rubbing her temple with her fingertips as if she might be developing a headache. A sudden rumble of thunder followed by a flash of lightning in the distance caused her to groan. “Great! Just great. I still have ninety miles to drive before I get home, my car won’t run and now it’s going to start raining. Could this day get any better?”
“It’s been a rough one?” he asked, noticing the defeated expression on her pretty face.
She looked at him as though he might be one of the simplest souls she’d ever met. “Let me put it to you this way—I’ve definitely had a lot better.”
As he stood there staring at her, he waged an internal battle with himself. It was getting late and there weren’t a lot of choices. He was worn-out from working all day and she sounded as though she was exhausted from whatever had ruined hers. He could drive her down to Shady Grove, but he really wasn’t looking forward to making the hour-and-a-half drive back as tired as he was—not when he had a very comfortable, fully furnished six-bedroom ranch house ten miles away.
“Don’t worry about how you’re going to get home,” he said, glancing at his watch. “You can stay at my place tonight and drive back to Shady Grove in the morning after my men get your car fixed.”
“I don’t want to impose.” A sudden gust of wind had her impatiently brushing her long dark brown hair away from her face as she shivered from the February cold. “Could you drive me over to Sam and Bria’s?”
It would be the best for all concerned if he could take her to her sister and his brother’s ranch. Unfortunately, that option wasn’t on the table. “Sam and Bria left this morning to go down to Houston for a stock show.”
She looked uncertain for several seconds and he could tell she was trying to think of something—anything—else she could do. When her shoulders sagged in defeat, he knew she’d reached the same conclusion he had.
She sighed heavily. “It doesn’t look as though I have a choice, does it?”
He shook his head. “I’ve got five spare bedrooms and you can take your pick.”
“All right,” she finally agreed, opening her car door. She retrieved a short black leather jacket from the passenger seat and pulled it on, then used her remote to lock the car.
Neither spoke as they walked the short distance to his truck and he helped her into the passenger side of the cab. What could they say? He had let his guard down and given in to the temptation of kissing her. But it couldn’t happen again. Now that she was going to have to spend the night at his place because her car had broken down, another kiss like the one he’d given her a few minutes ago could very easily push him over the edge and cause him to lose what little sense he had left.
When Jaron walked around the front of the truck to slide into the driver’s seat, he stared straight ahead as he started the powerful engine. He still wanted her and he could only hope that he’d cool off on the ten-mile drive to the Wild Maverick Ranch, at least enough to get some sleep.
But as he steered the truck out of the parking lot and headed toward his ranch, he knew as surely as the sun would rise in the east tomorrow morning that wasn’t going to happen. Now that he had tasted her sweet lips and held her soft body against his, he wanted a whole lot more. And that was something he knew for certain he could never have.
Mariah deserved a man who could offer her a future free of the emotional and physical scars of the past. Unfortunately, he had both.
* * *
When Jaron drove his truck beneath the arched entrance sign of the Wild Maverick Ranch, Mariah’s heart skipped a beat. She still couldn’t believe that he’d kissed her, let alone that she was going to spend the night at his new ranch.
When she was eighteen, she’d had a crush on him and dreamed of nothing more than having him feel as enamored with her as she was with him. He’d known about the infatuation, and instead of teasing her about it as some men might have done, he had been a perfect gentleman. He hadn’t encouraged her in order to stroke his ego, nor had he discouraged her. He had simply ignored it and treated her the same as the rest of his brothers. She’d known he thought he was too old for her back then, and he’d been right. She hadn’t been mature enough to handle a relationship with a man in his late twenties.
As the years went by and they saw each other at the family gatherings her sister held for the six foster brothers, she’d seen Jaron watch her and known he found her attractive. But to her disappointment, he hadn’t asked her out or treated her any different than he had when she was a teenager.
Then as the brothers married and started their families, her relationship with Jaron had turned into a rivalry of sorts. Whenever one of the sisters-in-law became pregnant, Jaron insisted the baby would be a boy, while she just knew it would be a girl. But even as they argued about it, there had been an undertone of tension that had recently become so thick it was impossible to deny.
Mariah glanced at Jaron. But tonight something had changed between them. She’d known it the moment he punched the cowboy at the Broken Spoke. Although any of his brothers would have taken exception to the man grabbing her by the arm, Jaron had been absolutely furious. And if his reaction hadn’t given her a hint that things were different between them, the kiss he had given her certainly had.
She had been kissed many times before, and although they’d been pleasant, none of them had been like the kiss Jaron had given her. There had been so much passion in the caress that it had been overwhelming. And what she couldn’t get over was the fact that they had both ignored it, as if it hadn’t even happened. They had started talking about her car problems and where she was going to stay for the night instead of addressing the fact that after all these years he had finally acted on their mutual attraction.
“Unbelievable.”
“What’s unbelievable?” he asked as he parked his truck in the four-car garage and pushed the remote on the visor to lower the door.
Unaware that she’d spoken her thoughts aloud, Mariah shrugged. “I was just thinking about my day,” she lied.
“Some days are like that,” he said, getting out of the truck. “Maybe tomorrow will be better.”
“It has to be. I doubt it could get any worse,” she said, opening the passenger door. Before she could figure out how to get out of the truck without breaking one of her high heels, or for that matter one of her ankles, Jaron was there to lift her down from the seat. His large hands wrapped around her waist caused her to feel warm all over. “Th-thank you.”
“Would you like something to eat?” he asked as they walked through the door to the mudroom. “I’ve got a couple of frozen pizzas I can toss in the oven.”
“No, thank you.” She shrugged. “I had dinner after my meeting.” She didn’t add that she hadn’t been able to eat due to the fact that during the meeting she had learned she was out of a job—effective immediately. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to go on to bed.”
“Of course not.” He led the way down the hall to the stairs. “Bria and the other sisters-in-law made up all the rooms when they decorated the place, so you can have your pick.”
“They did a fantastic job,” she said, noticing the original paintings by a popular Western artist hanging on the wall as they climbed the steps. The decor reflected the Wild Maverick’s new owner and his cowboy lifestyle.
“They did a better job than I would have done, that’s for sure,” he commented. When they reached the top floor, he opened the first door they came to and flipped on the light switch to turn on the bedside lamps. “If you don’t like this room, there are four more to choose from.”
“This will be fine,” she said, looking around. Decorated in a cool shade of green and cream, the colors complemented the Native American artwork on the walls and the handwoven area rugs on the hardwood floor. “Bria and the others should consider going into interior decorating.”
“I was going to leave the bedrooms empty, but Bria pointed out that I needed to furnish them in case I had guests.” He shrugged. “I doubt that I’ll ever have that many, since all of my brothers live close by.”
“If you don’t think you’ll need the rooms, why did you buy such a big house?” she asked, unable to see the logic in him paying for something he didn’t intend to use.
“I wanted the land,” he admitted. “It’s close enough to all of my brothers’ ranches that we can help each other out when needed and not have to drive more than an hour or so to get there.” He gave her a half smile. “The house just came with it.”
She wasn’t surprised Jaron wanted to live close to his foster brothers. From what her sister had told her, all six of them had been in trouble with the law when they were teenagers and the foster-care system had given up on them as lost causes. They’d been sent to the Last Chance Ranch, and thanks to a special man named Hank Calvert and his unique way of using ranch work and rodeo to teach them life lessons, all of the boys had worked through their troubles and turned their lives around. They had all become honest, productive adults, and because of their similar problems when they were boys and having no families to return to once they were of age, they had bonded into a very close family of their own.
“I wish I could live closer to Bria and Sam,” Mariah said wistfully. Living a couple of hours away, she didn’t get to see her only sibling nearly as much as she would have liked.
Jaron surprised her, and if his expression was any indication, he might have stunned himself when he stepped closer and brushed a wayward strand of her hair from her cheek. “Maybe one day that real estate place you work for will open a branch office somewhere around here and you’ll be able to live closer to your sister.”
She knew he meant the gesture as comforting, but his gentle touch and the knowledge that she no longer had a job with the company caused her to blink back tears. “I doubt...that will ever happen.”
“What’s wrong, Mariah?” His deep baritone was filled with gentle concern.
“Nothing,” she lied. “It’s been a really tough day. And one that I would just as soon forget.”
She didn’t want to go into the dismal turn her life had taken. She’d lost a boyfriend, a roommate and her job in less than twenty-four hours, and when she’d left Fort Worth after her meeting, she’d planned on having a good cry once she got home. The boyfriend hadn’t really bothered her because they hadn’t been seeing each other more than a couple of weeks and their relationship hadn’t been serious. In fact, it never would have been. They both knew that one day they’d stop seeing each other and she hadn’t even bothered mentioning that she was seeing him to her sister. But the loss of her roommate and her job had been devastating. Her roommate had left without notice, and she was going to have to find a way to pay both halves of the rent. Without her job, she had no way of doing that. But since her car broke down and she couldn’t be alone for that cleansing cry, she’d just have to keep her tears at bay for a while longer.
Jaron seemed to hesitate a moment before he wrapped his arms around her and drew her to his broad chest for a supportive hug. “I’m sure you’ll feel better after a good night’s sleep.”
“I doubt it, but thanks for the encouragement.” She knew he was only trying to set her mind at ease, but the feel of his strong arms around her was absolutely wonderful, and without thinking she snuggled closer into his reassuring embrace.
She felt him go perfectly still. “Mariah...I think I’d better let you get some sleep.”
She nodded but couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him. “That would probably be for the best,” she agreed.
When neither of them moved, Jaron used his index finger to lift her chin until their gazes met. “Tell me to get the hell away from you and leave you alone, Mariah.”
Staring up at him, she knew she should do as he commanded. But without hesitation, she slowly shook her head. “I can’t do that, Jaron.”
“What I’m feeling right now is wrong,” he warned, his expression testament to his inner turmoil. “I’m no good for you.”
“That’s your opinion,” she said softly. “It isn’t mine and never has been.”
He stared at her a moment before he shook his head. “Don’t say that, Mariah.”
“I’m just being honest, Jaron,” she answered quietly.
He closed his eyes a moment, as if struggling with himself, before opening them to capture her gaze with his. Slowly lowering his head, he kissed her so tenderly it sent shivers of anticipation up her spine. But instead of him releasing her and taking a step back as she thought he would do, his mouth settled more fully over hers for a deeper caress.
When his tongue touched hers, the heat that she’d felt the first time he kissed her came rushing back and caused her knees to give way. As he caught her to him, he stroked and teased her with precise care and Mariah felt the growing evidence of his need against her lower belly. An answering desire caused an empty ache deep in the most feminine part of her. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized where things were going. She knew without question that if she asked him to call a halt to things, he would do it no matter how difficult it was for him. But that wasn’t what she wanted. She had waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to hold her like this and now that he was, she never wanted it to end.
Feeling as if her head was spinning from the intense longing coursing through her, she was vaguely aware that he tightened his arms around her a moment before he lifted his head to stare down at her. “Mariah, kissing is one thing. But it’s going to go way beyond that if we don’t stop this right now.”
“Jaron, I don’t care how far this goes,” she said honestly. She raised her arms to circle his neck and tangled her fingers in his thick dark brown hair brushing the collar of his shirt. “I’ve wanted you to hold me like this since the moment we met.”
“Don’t say that.” When he closed his eyes, a muscle twitched along his lean jaw and she knew he was struggling to do what he thought was right. “I’m not the kind of man you need, Mariah.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, cowboy,” she whispered, cupping his cheek with her palm. “You’re exactly what I’ve always needed.”
