Always Remember (14 page)

He had a daughter. An adopted daughter. How weird was that? And she still wanted him, right here, right now, because somehow being a dad made him all the more sexier.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, yourself, squirt. I’ve been looking all over for you. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to avoid the lecture you’re going to get.”

“Knock yourself out, Dad.” She grinned at Jessie, then shot the same sly grin toward her father. “At least I understand why you didn’t want me home. At first, I thought you were so sick and tired of me, you just didn’t want me around anymore.”

His gaze skittered toward Jessie, then immediately swung back to his daughter. He looked tired, as though he hadn’t slept very well. Well, no thanks to him, neither had she.

Sara stroked the filly’s mane once more, then started to inch out of the stall and work her way past Nate. “I’m sure you two wanna be alone—”

“Sara,” he said, a note of warning in his voice.

“Man, I just can’t get anything past you, can I?” she muttered as she stopped in the middle of the aisle, folded her arms across her chest, and tapped the toe of one boot against the cement floor. She shot a glance toward Jessie. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll vamoose. Dad’s lectures are...” She blinked up at her dad, patient where before she’d been antsy and nervous. “...eternally long and boring.”

Jessie jumped at the chance to disappear. She was already too involved with Nate, too fascinated with his adopted daughter. “Sounds good to me.”

For just a moment, he blocked her escape. Jessie looked up into his face and what she saw there made her catch her breath. Sara’s return was pretty inconvenient and if the girl wasn’t standing there watching them, Jessie was pretty certain Nate would be kissing her right now.

Heat flared in her cheeks. “Excuse me. You’re blocking my way.”

“Sorry,” he muttered, then sidestepped out of her way.

Just before she stepped out of the stable and into the bright sunlight, she glanced back. Nate was already squared off with his daughter, his chin set in a stubborn angle.

Amazingly, his daughter’s chin had the same stubborn slant.

“Dammit, Dad, let’s get this over with.”

Releasing a heavy sigh, Nate wiped a hand over his face. “Don’t swear.”

A mulish expression, scarily similar to her grandma’s, turned down the corners of her mouth. “I’m too old for you to wash my mouth out with soap.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I’m nineteen— ”

“In another year and a half.”

A grin flashed across her mouth. “Hey, that’s almost there.”

Nate found himself wishing he hadn’t let Jessie escape. He should have tied her to his side, forced her into sharing Sara’s pain. Too late now. Better just to get it over and done with. Nothing he might say would ease his daughter’s sorrow.

Her annoyance morphed into concern. “It’s something else, isn’t it? Something you’re not telling me about Maude. Something you haven’t even told Jessie, right?”

“It’s about Morning Glory, sweetie.”

She brushed the back of her hand over her eyes and slumped her shoulders, leaned back against the wall. “Glory didn’t make it, did she, Dad?”

“No, sweetie. The foal was breech and I couldn’t get hold of the vet.” He laid one hand on her shoulder and with the other, caught her chin between his thumb and finger, forcing her to look at him. “I’m sorry. Hale and I...we did everything we could to keep her alive but we couldn’t.”

Pushing away from the wall, she stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Nate laid his cheek against the top of her head and hugged her close, thanked his lucky stars that he’d been given this special child, this amazing young woman, to raise and love.

“Where’s she now?”

He stroked his palm against the silky strands of her hair. “Hale and I buried her, sweetie. Do you want me to take you out there?”

“No.” She pushed away, wiped at her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her jacket, and stuck her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. “I’ll get Hale to show me later.”

She looked defeated, as though she carried the burden of the world on her shoulders.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry.”

Crouching down beside the foal, she wrapped her arms around the filly’s neck. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay here for a while. I promise, I’ll do my chores later, okay?”

“Sure, sweetie.” He shifted from one foot to the other, hating to leave her alone. But it was obvious, when she turned her face away and pressed her nose against the foal’s mane, that she didn’t need or want his company.

His little girl was almost grown up.

“If you want to talk, Sara, you know I’m here for you.”

“Yeah. Later, Dad.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Sara listened to her dad’s footsteps as he made his way up the aisle and out of the stable. Only when she was certain she was alone did she let the tears fall freely.

Morning Glory was dead. She couldn’t believe it.

“Meadow Flower. That’s what I’ll call you,” she whispered against the coarse hair of the filly. “Someday when you’re older, I’ll tell you about your mom.”

Too bad there was no one to tell her about her own mom.

“Hey, Sara. When did you get home?”

Hale’s voice drifted across to her, soothing and welcome. She pushed to her feet, glanced around to make sure they were alone, then stepped into his open arms. He enveloped her in a hug and held on tight.

“Your old man told you about Glory, huh?”

She nodded, blinked back fresh tears as she caught his face between her hands and pulled his head down. Their lips met, fused together as one.

“Missed you,” he whispered against her mouth.

“Did you?” She pressed closer. “It didn’t keep you from going into town the other night.”

He pulled back and frowned down at her. “You called?”

“Yeah. I...needed to talk to you.”

“Talk? A highly overrated form of communication.” He grinned before he kissed her again. When he finally raised his head, his eyes were dark with desire. “Right now, I’m gonna show you where we buried Glory. Then I’m gonna make love to you till your eyes go crossed.”

She glanced around to ensure they were alone, then quirked one eyebrow at him as they strolled along the length of the aisle, no longer touching one another. “I’ll guarantee I can make your eyes cross first.”

“Try it, babe,” Hale muttered, heat and desire warming his gaze.

Hands folded behind her back, she wandered across the yard, Hale at her side, and tried to still the excitement that flowed through her veins and pooled in her belly. Later, they could talk, when they lay within each other’s arms, their bodies slick with sweat, sated for the moment.

Then she’d tell him and he’d—

Sara froze. “Hale? What’s Dad doing?”

Beside her, Hale swore and gave her a gentle, urgent shove toward the barn. “Find Sam. Tell him he better hurry.”

Sara started after Hale, then switched direction mid-step and nearly lost her balance. One of these days, she was going to put her dad out of his misery and sell Diablo to the glue factory.

Better yet, maybe she just ought to shoot her dad instead. He seemed to have some kind of death wish anyway.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The front door banged open, bounced against the wall, bringing Jessie out of hiding and off the couch.

“Might as well call the doc right now,” Sam muttered as he shuffled into the house and grabbed the receiver.

The muscles in her stomach tensed. “Is there something wrong with the foal?”

“Doggone boy is at it again.” He punched in the numbers on the keypad. “The boy’s got straw fer brains.” His old, tired gaze fixed on Jessie. “Get down there and talk some sense into him before he mounts that beast.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The dang fool. Every time he gets a craw stuck in his hide, he ends up with a busted head. Diablo ain’t no smarter. Better move, Jessie, ‘fore it’s too late.”

Jessie crossed to the front window and pushed aside the lace curtains. Nate stood at the gate to the corral, pulling on leather gloves. Inside the fence, the stallion pranced in a wide circle, taunting him to come closer.

Nate wouldn’t last five seconds on the stallion. Bronco riding wasn’t his specialty.

She bolted from the house, sprinted across the yard, and skidded to a stop in front of Nate. “Dad’s calling George.”

His attention swerved to the house, worry puckering his brow. “Maude? Is she worse?”

She shook her head and grabbed his forearm. “For you, you idiot. Why are you doing this? What are you trying to prove?”

From beneath the rim of his hat, he watched the stallion trot around the corral. “Diablo and I have a pact. He lets me mount him and I let him throw me.”

Except for the rhythmic clop of the horse’s hooves against the hard packed dirt, everything faded into the background. Silence wrapped around her, cocooning her in a world where nothing existed but Nate and the threat to his safety. “Please don’t.”

“Are you going to give me a reason not to?” With his free hand, he unhitched the lock and swung the gate open, his eyes glowing with tempered fire and steel. Reaching out, he brushed his gloved thumb across her bottom lip, the leather so soft it felt like a rose petal. A shiver traveled up her spine as his gaze locked on her, held her silent and still. “I know of one activity that would keep me off Diablo.”

Yes.
Her response came instantaneously but she bit back the single word, knowing it would make leaving him all the more difficult. He stood there, staring at her as though unaffected by her nearness when once a single touch would have set him off.

Cool and controlled. She liked him much better hot and unrestrained.

He turned his attention back to his gloves and gave a tug on the cuff of one, drawing her gaze to the strength of his hands. Flexing his fingers, he tested the snug fit.

The long ago memory of his big hands roaming over her naked flesh brought a flush to her body and her cheeks. Jessie dragged her gaze back to his face and found him watching her again. Could he read what she was feeling? Could he see how easy it would be for her to fall into his arms and make love with him?

“Are you going to make me an offer I can’t refuse, Jess?”

His face was calm, his gaze half lidded as he watched her. But she sensed the tension in him, in the tight control that he exerted over himself.

Once, she would have jumped into his arms without a second thought. But now...there was so much left unsaid, so many things she had to tell him first and he wouldn’t want her once he knew the truth.

Desperate to stop him, Jessie grabbed his forearm and gave him a shake. “I swear, if that beast doesn’t kill you, I’ll do it for him.”

Surprised laughter burst from between his taut lips, easing the tension from the muscles beneath her hands. “Left side or right side, Jess?”

“What?”

He grinned down at her and showed her both sides of his profile, and if she hadn’t wanted to hold him so tight, she would’ve laid him flat right there and then. She was that mad.

Hale skidded to a stop beside them. “Sir, what about Sara? You know she doesn’t like you riding Diablo.”

Nate’s eyes flickered with something deep, regretful, uncertain. “If the beast kills me, Sara’s your responsibility, Jess.”

Her heart leapt into her throat. “God, Nate, you’re talking crazy now. Just come back to the house with me and we’ll discuss what’s bothering you.”

“I’m done talking, babe.” He stepped forward and captured her chin between his thumb and fingers, unmindful of the boy standing next to them, the ranch hands gathering around the corral, the stallion kicking up dirt behind him. He bent his head, paused a breath away from her lips, his gaze alight with excitement and desire. “From now on, it’s nothing but action.”

His mouth captured hers and Jessie’s legs went weak. Her arms inched around his neck and she pressed her body against him so she could feel every lean muscle, from his feet to his hairline, imprinted on her body. And she wondered if making love with him would ease his frustration long enough to keep him out of the saddle and off the stallion — forever.

When he released her, he tugged on the brim of his hat and gave her a crooked grin, the same crooked grin that his daughter had given her earlier. She frowned.

“Wish me luck, sweetheart?”

“You don’t need luck, you need a miracle.”

“Don’t be afraid of Diablo.” He stole another quick hard kiss, then stepped into the corral, closing the gate behind him and securing the latch. His gaze fastened on her with an intensity that left her weak-kneed and breathless. “You’ll still be here when I wake up?”

She thought about how badly she wanted to leave, how much easier it would be to never look back if she didn’t get involved with him again.

“Jess? I wanna know whether it’ll be worth waking up.”

The liquid fire in his eyes didn’t match the quiet tone of his voice. Jessie couldn’t help herself. She nodded and was thankful that she did when she saw the stiff set of his shoulders ease.

The stallion’s ears stiffened as Nate approached, held out one hand, and talked to the animal as though that might sooth the beast’s temper. Jessie felt her stomach knot with fear. She should have slept with him and suffered the loneliness later when she knew she’d have to leave his side again.