Knight, Kayla - Her Long Hot Surrender [Raw Texas Heat 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (4 page)

“You’d better follow me,” she said, leading the way, through the front door and up the stairs. On the second floor she showed him into the master suite. Unused for the past few weeks, the air inside the room felt stifling. It had been her mother’s bedroom before she became too ill to climb the stairs. All her personal possessions were there, and even though she was still alive, the poignancy of her mother’s belongings on display made her feel sad. A tear slid down her cheek as she pulled open the French doors. If Tyler noticed, he didn’t say a word. Instead he laid the ladders against the side of the house and climbed onto the roof.

“I’ll soon have this fixed, it just needs a drop or two of oil,” he shouted down.

Madison found herself drawn back into the bedroom. She shook her head as she scanned the dressing table. Without thinking, she reached out and picked up the wedding photograph of her parents. She gently stroked their happy faces through the glass. Soon her mother would be dead and gone, just like her father some five years before. Then she would be all alone. There would be no one left, not even a husband to comfort her.

Tears ran unchecked down her cheek, and sobs that had been buried deep inside her burst from her lips. Her whole body shook as she tried to contain the grief. She hugged the photograph, holding it tightly against her breast. “Why does life have to be so sad?”

With her back to the balcony, her shoulders stiffened when she heard Tyler enter the bedroom through the French doors. She breathed in, trying to keep a tight control on her emotions. Her clinical upbringing and ten years in Washington society had taught her not to lay her soul bare in public. But the recent divorce and the imminent demise of her mother made it almost impossible.

“Shh, Madi,” Tyler murmured behind her. His fingers wove into her hair, and it was all she could do to stop herself falling into his muscular arms.

“Madison to you,” she ground out, lowering her head. She closed her eyes tightly shut and held her breath, briefly enjoying the connection with another human being. Tyler loosed his hold on her hair and stepped away. Like all men, she guessed he couldn’t cope with a woman’s grief.

“Madison, I’ve packed the weather vane with grease. It won’t make a noise now. Your mother will sleep soundly from now on. By the way, you’ve a few loose tiles that need replacing.”

She nodded. “I’ll look into it. Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

He paused behind her. “I’ll be getting off. I’ve got plenty to do at the ranch. No need to see me out. I know you’ve more important things to do.”

“Thanks.” Through blurred vision she watched him collect his ladders and leave the bedroom.

* * * *

There were times in Gabe’s life when he regretted doing certain things. Throwing the hammer and nails at the departing pickup truck was one of them. If he’d kept his cool, he’d have finished this roof by now. Instead he’d spent the last twenty minutes baking in the overhead sun.

Still, he had a bird’s-eye view over his and Tyler’s thousand-acre spread, and he could just make out the highway in the distance. When a pickup turned down the dirt track to their ranch, he knew it was Tyler coming back. He followed the billowing dust cloud for several minutes, until the truck entered the yard and came to an abrupt halt.

At least his younger brother had the decency to look sheepish as he climbed from the cab. His hand shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun as he squinted at him on the roof.

“Need the ladders?”

“For fuck sake, Tyler, of course I do. I’m medium rare. In another minute I’ll be well done.”

“I don’t know if you’re calm enough.”

“Of course I’m fucking calm enough.”

“It don’t sound like it. I’m not gonna let you down if you’re gonna take a swing at me,” he joked.

Gabe and Tyler had an easygoing relationship. They were brothers, but they were the best of friends, too. They rarely had a cross word between them. Jokes and pranks were just part and parcel of everyday. They’d share everything—jokes, work, profits, and even, on the rare occasion, women. “Look all I want is a cool beer and the lowdown on what you’ve been doing with the prom queen next door.” He pointed at the roof. “Oh, and you can fix this, too. I’ve just about had it with roofs.”

He watched his brother lift the ladders from the pickup and lean them against the barn. When he was firmly on terra firma he took a false swing at Tyler with his fist. “I could have died of thirst up there.”

His brother ducked and sent a playful left hook skimming past his stomach. “You’re talking crap.” He laughed. “I was gone less than half an hour.”

“Fuck, I’ve gotta get out of this sun.” Gabe strode to the veranda and entered the cool interior of the ranch house.
Thank God for air-conditioning.
He heard the fly screen swing shut as Tyler followed him inside. Gabe went straight to the kitchen and grabbed two beers from the cooler. After tossing one to his brother, he ripped the top off with a yank and gulped the refreshing liquid back. “Fuck, I needed that. So go on, spill the beans. Tell me all about little Miss Prom Queen.”

“I’m not sure how much I should tell you, particularly as you’re the jealous type.”

After spending twenty minutes in the baking midday sun on top of the barn, Gabe was in no mood for games. It must have shown on his face, because Tyler held his palms up. “Okay, okay. Well, Madi was her usual aloof self. It was quite a surprise when she invited me into her bedroom.”

“In your dreams.”

Tyler shook his head a huge grin on his face. “Straight up.” Gabe watched his brother take a huge swig of beer. “Fuck, that tastes good.” He took another long gulp before continuing, “And she allowed me to touch her hair, too.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“No. I’m guessing her emotions are all shot, what with the divorce and her mother’s illness, but that’s what happened. Remember when we were at school and we used to rate how sexy a girl was?

“Yeah, I remember.”

“We only ever rated one girl the perfect ten.”

“Yeah. Madi Allen.”

“Well, I can confirm we were right to do so. I’m telling you, her hair felt like spun silk and smelled of fine perfume.” He held his hand to his nose. “Mmm, I can still smell her now. I bet her pussy tastes and smells just as good, too. Her figure, and the way she holds herself makes her a perfect ten.” Tyler shook his head, a wistful look on his face. “Yeah, I would’ve even give her eleven out of ten, if she could just curb that sassy tongue of hers.”

“Told you to drop dead, did she? Told you to go fuck yourself and stop bothering her.”

“Sort of. She still acts like she’s got a stick up her ass. Figures she’s better than anyone else. Always did. Guess she’s not into cowboys. Just hotshot politicians.”

Gabe chuckled. “Yep, she needs taming all right, and I for one would enjoy breaking her in to my way of thinking.” An image seared itself into his mind. Madi all hot for him, pleading for her sexual release as he filled her wet cunt with his prick. He’d make her beg to climax before he branded her fast and hard for himself.

Chapter Four

“Try to eat a little,” Madison urged.

Her mother shook her head, and sagged back against the pillows. “I’m finished, Madison, in more ways than one.”

“Never mind, Mother, don’t worry about it. You’ve eaten a little. I’ll just clear this away.” Madison went to remove the tray from the bedside table, but her mother touched her hand.

“Stay awhile. I feel better when you’re around.”

Madison smiled at the weakened old lady lying in the bed. Her breathing had deteriorated, and she struggled to get her words out. A nurse came twice a day to administer morphine directly into her mother’s veins. The nurse had told Madison she had only a matter of days, possibly even hours.

“Tell me why you divorced Carson. I’ve not much time left. I always thought you made the perfect couple.”

Madison grimaced and sat back in her chair. “That’s just it, Mother. The photographers may have loved us. Carson with his dashing good looks, and me the budding socialite just barely out of high school.” When the important Senator had been invited to the sleepy town as a guest of her father’s, the then mayor of Buffalo Springs, Madison had been flattered by his attention. He had a way with words, and seemed so much wiser than she. He was thirty-four, and she’d been just eighteen. His attractive mane of gray-peppered hair, and self-confidence swept her off her feet. His maturity, status, and wealth had impressed her immensely. None of the adolescent boys in Buffalo Springs could possibly hope to compete with him. Including Tyler and Gabe Hayes. It was rumored that one day he would run for Governor, or even President. He was a man of means who would show her the ways of the world. He could give her all the fine things that life had to offer. As soon as they’d married, her opinion of him changed.

“You sound so bitter, Madison.”

“I am bitter. I wasted ten years on a man who loved himself far more than he loved me. In fact he didn’t love me at all. I was just the trophy wife, a trinket to hang on his arm. A young girl he could show off.”

“But surely you were happy?”

Madison shook her head, wondering how much to tell her mother. She didn’t want to distress her, yet she felt her mother needed to know the type of man Carson Delaware was. No need to tell her about all the shady dealings he’d been involved with, or the way large amounts of money had been wired secretly to Swiss bank accounts. She’d never believe her anyway.

“I couldn’t have been happy with him. Not when he had so many affairs with other women. I stopped counting after five. Sometimes he’d disappear for days on end, without saying a word. When he did finally return home, I could always smell their perfume on him. We’d argue until he left again.”

“I’m so sorry, Madison. I didn’t know all this was happening. I thought everything was good between you both. You should have come home.”

Madison leaned forward and held her mother’s frail hands in hers. Her eyes were glazed and sunken, and her ashen skin lay taut across her skull. There was nothing left of her. “I wanted to come home. But you had such high hopes for me. Remember when I told you I had second thoughts about going ahead with the marriage?” Her mother nodded and Madison continued, “God knows I don’t want to burden you with this now.”

“Please, Madison. We need this talk…before I die.” It was an effort for her to speak.

“You told me love would come later.” Madison’s eyes filled with tears. “It never did.”

“Hush child…I need to tell you something. Something I never even told my dear William. When I married your father…I hardly knew him. I didn’t marry your father out of love. I married him to escape my roots. I could see William Allen had potential. He was my ticket out of poverty.” Madison knew her mother had been the driving force behind her father. Without her mother he would never have achieved such high office. However, she was totally unaware that her mother had come from such humble and impoverished beginnings. Madison had always believed she’d come from a respectable, middle-class family. She’d always been told her that her grandparents were both doctors who sadly died before she was born. There was even talk of a distant Russian princess in the ancestry. This news was a revelation. Her mother continued, “Over time I grew to love your father, and hoped the same would happen with you and Carson. I felt sure it would.”

Madison shook her head, and added bitterly, “It didn’t.” She held her head in her hands and closed her eyes. Everything crowded in. Her mother was dying, and she’d just been through an unhappy and bitter divorce. Carson had made it so clinical. She’d had to sign a whole raft of legal papers, all gagging her from revealing anything about their marriage. During her ten years with Carson, she’d learned that he was a thoroughly dishonest and unscrupulous man. Every inch the politician.

How comforting it felt when her mother’s hand stroked over her hair. “Madison, listen to me. I grew up without any love. Maybe it was because I had to live from hand to mouth. That’s probably why I found it so difficult to show you any love. I’m so, so, sorry, Madison. I wanted so much to be a good mother to you.”