“I imagine you’re wondering why we’re sitting in here rather than outside,” he said.
As a matter of fact she was.
“It’s too damned difficult to find a way to hold you if you’re sitting in that rocking chair,” he confessed. “Damn it, woman, I haven’t thought about anything but kissing you again from the moment you left last Sunday.”
It was heaven to hear him say it, and hell to confess it herself. “Oh, Grady, me, too!”
Neither made a pretense of drinking the lemonade. The minute they were on the sofa, they were in each other’s arms. Their first kiss was urgent, like a thirsty traveler drinking in cool water, not taking time to savor the taste or feel of it. Their second kiss was more serene.
Caroline wanted this, needed this, and Grady hadn’t disappointed her. His own display of eagerness warmed her heart. A delightful excitement filled her, allowing her to hope, to dream.
“Is this really happening to us?” she asked. She shifted around and rested her back against his chest. He spread light kisses down the side of her neck.
“If it’s not, don’t wake me.”
“When did this come about?” She closed her eyes and moaned softly when his teeth nipped her ear, sending shivers up her spine. “Grady,” she groaned, half in protest, half in encouragement.
“Kiss me,” he pleaded.
He didn’t need to ask twice. She twisted around and offered him her mouth. The havoc his touch created within her was much too powerful to resist.
Caroline was too involved in their exchange to hear the door open.
Grady abruptly broke off the kiss. Stunned by the sudden change in him, she didn’t notice Savannah for several seconds.
“Oops.” Her best friend sounded infinitely cheerful. “I think we came back a little too soon, Laredo.”
CHAPTER 6
“THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” CAROLINE CRIED, galloping after Grady. The wind blew in her face as her pinto followed Grady’s horse across the wide open range. She hadn’t gone horse back riding in ages, and it felt wonderful, exhilarating. Caroline couldn’t remember a time she’d experienced such a sense of freedom. Not in years and years. This light hearted feeling could only be attributed to one thing—the fact that she was falling in love with Grady.
“Come on, slowpoke,” Grady shouted over his shoulder, leading her farther from the ranch house. He hadn’t said where they were headed, but he seemed to have a destination in mind.
“Where are you taking me?” she called, but either he didn’t hear or chose to ignore the question.
Bless Savannah’s match making heart. When she’d returned early, she insisted they go riding, saying she’d look after Maggie. Grady and Caroline had both made token protests, but it didn’t take long for Savannah to convince them to sneak away.
The day was lovely, not excessively hot for an August afternoon. Surprisingly it was several degrees cooler than it had been earlier in the week. The grass was lush and green because of the early-summer rains, and the air smelled fresh.
During the past few days Caroline had been giving a lot of thought to her relationship with Grady. Both were mature adults. He’d recently turned thirty-six and she was almost twenty-eight. She knew what she wanted in life, and he seemed to have set his own course, too. She liked him and deeply respected him. Recently, very recently, she’d admitted she was fast falling in love with him. Already she was be ginning to believe they could make a decent life together.
Grady crested a hill and stopped to wait for her. His eyes were bright, alive with happiness, and Caroline wondered if the joy she read in them was a reflection of her own.
“Are you ready for a break yet?” he asked.
“I’ll rest when you do,” she told him, not wanting to hold him up.
“In other words you’re willing to follow me to the ends of the earth.”
She laughed rather than confess the truth of it. “Something like that.”
“Seriously, Caroline, my backside is far more accustomed to a saddle than yours. I don’t want to overtax that part of your anatomy.”
“I didn’t know you were so concerned about the care and comfort of my butt,” she teased.
Grady threw back his head and laughed boisterously.
She urged the pinto into an easy trot, and Grady caught up with her in short order. They rode in companionable silence for several minutes. Gradually he led her toward some willow trees growing along the edge of a winding creek. The scene was postcard picturesque.
“There’s a nice shady spot here.” Grady pointed to a huge weeping willow whose branches dipped lazily into the water.
They paused there. Grady dismounted first, then helped her down. Caroline had been around horses most of her life and certainly didn’t need any assistance. But she didn’t stop him; she knew he wanted to hold her, and she wanted it, too. She could find no reason to deny either of them what they desired.
He held her a moment longer than necessary and she pretended not to notice. Bracing her hands against his shoulders, she slowly eased her body toward the ground. Even then he didn’t release his firm grasp on her waist.
His eyes were intense, focused only on her. Time seemed to stop. Everything around her had an unreal dream like quality. Sound filtered lazily into her mind—the whisper of a breeze through the delicate branches of the willow, the creek’s cheerful gurgle, the bird song of early evening.
“I used to come here when I was a boy,” Grady said. He still held her, but more loosely now. “I used to think it was a magic place.”
“Magic?”
“Bandits hid in the tree, waiting to ambush me, but I was too smart for them.” Laugh lines crinkled at his eyes as he spoke.
“When I was a little girl, I used to hide in an oak tree in our backyard. I was sure no one could see me.”
He removed his glove and brushed a strand of hair from her temple, his callused fingers gentle against her face. “Once I’d rid the place of the bandits, I’d sit and think…and pretend.”
“I’d dream,” she told him, realizing as she did that this was the first time she’d ever told anyone about the oak tree.
“Any particular dream?” he asked.
“Oh, what most girls dream,” she said. “Girls who’ve read Cinderella and Rapunzel and Snow White—I adored those stories. I’d dream about being a princess in disguise. A handsome prince would fight in surmountable odds to come to me and declare his love.”
He grinned. “At your service.”
“Oh, Grady, are you my prince?” She felt foolish when she’d said the words, but he looked at her so seriously, all joking gone.
“There’s nothing I’d like more,” he said in a quiet voice.
The air between them seemed electric, charged with tension, and Caroline was convinced she’d die if he didn’t kiss her soon. Judging by the glitter in his eyes, Grady must have felt the same way. He muttered something unintelligible, then unhurriedly lowered his mouth to hers.
He tightened his arms around her waist, almost lifting her from the ground. Caroline ran her fingers through his hair. His Stetson tumbled from his head, but he didn’t seem to notice. The kiss went on and on.
Abruptly he broke it off and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry. I’m moving too fast. It’s just that—”
“No, that’s not it.”
His hands were in her hair, too, and he held her against him. With her ear pressed to his heart, she could hear its desperate pounding.
“I can’t seem to keep my hands off you,” he whispered.
“You don’t hear me complaining, do you?”
“No, but…” His chest expanded with a deep sigh. “Oh, hell, Caroline, I haven’t made any secret of the way I feel about you.”
“It’s how I feel, too,” she confessed.
Holding her hand firmly in his, he guided her toward the creek, stopping long enough to retrieve a spare blanket from his saddlebag. He pulled back the dangling willow
branches and bowed, gesturing her in. “Welcome to my castle.”
“Castle?” she repeated. “I thought it was a bandits’ hide out.”
“Not anymore,” he murmured. “I’m your handsome prince, remember?”
All Caroline could do was smile. And if her smile was a little tremulous…she couldn’t help it.
He spread the blanket on the ground, and once she was seated, he returned to his saddlebag. To her surprise, he produced a bottle of cool white wine, two stemmed plastic glasses and a piece of cheddar cheese.
“You shock me, Grady,” Caroline told him as he opened the bottle with his Swiss Army knife.
“I do?” He glanced up, a look of amusement on his face as he cut the cheese and handed her a slice.
“This is so romantic.”
“If you think this is something, just wait.”
Caroline raised her head. “You mean there’s more?” She savoured a bite of the sharp cheddar.
“Much more.” He leaped to his feet and returned to the horses. Again opening a saddlebag, he drew out a small gold-foil box.
“Chocolates?” Caroline squealed with delight.
“I figured these were the kind of thing a man gives a woman when he comes courting.” He didn’t look at her; instead, he busied himself carefully pouring the wine.
Caroline loved the way he used the old-fashioned term. “Are you courting me, Grady?” She’d meant to sound demure, but her question had an urgency about it. “Are you being serious?” She had to know.
“This is about as serious as a man gets,” he said and handed her a plastic cup of wine. “Shall we make a toast?” he asked, holding up his glass.
She nodded and touched her glass to his.
“To the future,” he said, then amended, “our future.”
Caroline sipped the wine. The char don nay was delicate, smooth, refreshing. One sip and her heart started to pound, the force of it growing with every beat. It took her a moment to realize what was happening.
She was in love, really in love. It both terrified and excited her. And with that realization came another. She needed to tell Grady about Maggie’s father. He had a right to know the truth, although the thought of telling him brought a dull ache to the pit of her stomach.
“You’re quiet all of a sudden,” Grady said.
“I was just thinking.” She shrugged off his concern.
“That could be dangerous to your mental health,” he teased. He leaned forward, his lips moist with wine, and gently kissed her. His mouth lingered in a series of short nibbling kisses far more potent than the wine.
“I can’t make myself stop kissing you,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers.
“I can’t stop wanting you to kiss me,” she told him. She moved her hands along his neck, loving the feel of his skin. “I…I want to talk to you about Maggie.” She closed her eyes, fighting back the tension that gripped her. The sooner she got this over with, the better.
“I’m trying, Caroline, I honestly am.”
“I know…but what I want to say doesn’t have anything to do with how she feels about you.”
Grady went very still.
The heavy pounding of her heart echoed in her ears, drowning out her thoughts. She couldn’t look at him while she spoke of that pain-filled time. Before she could stop herself, she was on her feet.
“It’s about Maggie’s father.” She clenched her hands until the knuckles were white. Her stomach tightened. The only one who knew the full truth had been her mother. Caroline was well aware that other family members and certainly her friends had speculated for years about who’d fathered Maggie, but she’d never told them. Never told anyone. Never felt the need until now.
“Caroline, you’re very pale. Is this really so difficult for you?”
She bowed her head and exhaled slowly. “It’s much harder than I’d thought it would be.”
He stood up and moved behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Then forget it. My knowing isn’t necessary, not if it upsets you like this.”
“But it is necessary.” He had no idea how much.
“Then you can tell me some other time,” he insisted. He bent to kiss the side of her neck. His mouth lingered and her head fell forward. “I want our afternoon to be special. I don’t want anything to interfere with that.”
“But you have a right to know.” She paused and swallowed. What he didn’t seem to understand was that telling him wouldn’t get any easier. In fact, the longer she waited…
His hands gently stroked the length of her arms. “Let’s not spoil our afternoon with memories best for got ten. There’ll be plenty of time for you to tell me everything—but not today.”
“Aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to know?”
He released a long sigh. “Yeah, I am,” he said after a moment. “Perhaps I’m a little afraid, too. I don’t want anything to ruin what we have.”
“Oh, Grady.” He made it so easy to delay telling him the truth. Easy to thrust it into the future with excuses she was far too willing to accept and he was just as eager to suggest.
“I’m your prince, remember?”
“I remember,” she replied dutifully.
“Good.” He kissed her then, his mouth touching hers in a quick caress. “Now let’s get back to our wine.”
He waited until she’d settled herself on the blanket before he handed her the glass he’d refilled. Positioning himself behind her, he eased her against him. Caroline closed her eyes as he gently fingered the fine strands of her hair.
“I told you this is a magic place.”
“Mmm.”
“Reality will find us soon enough, so let’s enjoy the magic while we can.”
Caroline had to admit she was willing to do just that.
MAGGIE PUT SAVANNAH’S DOLLS back on the bedroom-window seat and looked out again, hoping to see her mommy. She’d gone horse back riding with Grady and they’d been away a long time. Longer than she wanted them to be. She was ready to go home now.
Bored, she put on her backpack and wandered into the kitchen where Savannah was kneading bread dough.
“When’s Mommy coming back?” she asked.
“I don’t know, sweetheart, but I imagine they’ll be here soon.”
“Where’s Richard?” Maggie asked next.
“I don’t know.”
“Can I watch television?”
“Of course, but get Laredo to turn it on for you, okay?”
“I can do it,” Maggie insisted. She turned on the television at home and it wasn’t hard.
“Grady got a new satellite dish and it has three remote controls.”
There was his name again. Not only did Grady shout, but he made it so she couldn’t prove to Savannah how smart she was.
“Laredo’s in the barn, but he’ll be finished any minute.”
Maggie glanced wistfully toward the barn, but she wouldn’t go in there alone, not anymore. The last time, she’d gotten into trouble, and Grady had yelled at her again and grabbed her. He’d been scared, too; she could tell when he pulled her away from the horse and held her.
“I’d do it for you, sweetheart, but I’ve got my hands buried in bread dough,” Savannah explained.
“That’s all right.” Not wanting to wait inside, Maggie walked onto the porch. She sat on the top step, and Rocket ambled over to lie down beside her. She rubbed his ears for a few minutes because Savannah had told her he liked that. Then she rested her chin on her folded hands, looking out over the ranch yard, hoping she’d find something to do. Something that wouldn’t get her in trouble.
She caught a flash of color and saw Richard coming out of the bunkhouse. Her spirits lifted immediately. Leaping off the steps, she raced to his side. “Richard!”
He jerked around, then smiled when he saw her. Maggie liked Richard’s smile, but what she enjoyed most were his magic tricks. Once he pulled a coin out of her ear. Another time he had her draw a card out of the middle of a deck
and then told her what card it was. He was right.
“Howdy, kiddo,” Richard said.
“Wanna play?” she asked, skipping after him.
“Not now.”
“Nobody wants to play with me,” she said, hoping he’d feel sorry for her and offer a game or a few tricks.
“Sorry, kiddo, I’ve got things to do.”
Maggie’s face fell. Everyone was too busy for her. “Can I help?” she asked, thinking if he finished early, he might take time to play.
“No,” he said sharply. He sounded almost like Grady when he was mad, and Maggie gasped.
Richard squatted down. “Maybe we can play, after all. How about a game of hide-and-seek?” he suggested. “You go hide and I’ll come and find you.”
This was great, better than she’d expected. “Okay.” Maggie glanced around, looking for a place to hide, some where Richard wouldn’t find her.
“Are you closing your eyes?” she asked.
“You bet I am, kid.”
Maggie didn’t like the way he said it, but she was so pleased to have someone willing to play with her that she didn’t care.
“Don’t peek,” she warned and raced around the corner.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he called after her.
He said that in a way she didn’t like, either. Almost as if he was mad but without raising his voice. Maggie tore across the yard, her pack slapping against her back, and hid in Savannah’s garden. She liked the smell of the roses. She crouched down under the table on the patio…but Richard didn’t come and he didn’t come. She got tired of waiting.
He was probably looking in places near the barn, she decided. Sneaking out of the rose garden, she crept on tiptoe closer to where she’d last seen him. Circling around to the other side of the barn, she saw Grady’s truck that Richard some times drove. He didn’t usually keep his truck there. The truck bed was covered with a sort of blanket but bigger.
Richard would never think of looking for her there. The tailgate was down, and by standing on a box she was able to climb inside. The floor hurt her knees and it was dark and warm inside, almost like a cave under the heavy cloth. There was lots of other stuff, too. She found a rolled-up sleeping bag and leaned against it.