A Knight In Cowboy Boots (20 page)

Chapter Fifteen

As Rachel approached, one of the customers down the bar flagged Maddie. The whole time she was filling his drink order, it felt like a herd of moths was trying to beat its way out of her stomach. Stolen glances revealed Zach leaning a little too casually on the bar, Rachel standing stiff beside him. Neither looked at or even acknowledged the other that Maddie saw. Jake had gone silent as well, but the hint of a smile on his lips between sips of beer as he watched his siblings ignore each other betrayed his amusement.

Maddie kept her eyes on Rachel as she came back to them. She fervently wished Zach had just left it alone.

Rachel shifted from one foot to another, her frame stiff with internal tension. She took a deep breath, dropped her eyes, and said, “Zach has pointed out to me that I have boundary issues and may have inadvertently offended you this morning. I hope you’ll forgive me for butting into your private business.”

It was a no frills apology, but asking forgiveness was obviously not something Zach’s sister had a lot of experience with. “I appreciate your apology,” Maddie said. “As far as I’m concerned, this morning is forgotten.”

“Thank you.” As Rachel turned to leave, she shot Zach a look that was—triumphant?

Zach swiveled on his barstool to watch her go. Maddie shifted her gaze to Jake, who looked as though it was all he could do to restrain himself from laughing out loud. Suddenly, Maddie saw the humor in it. As Zach swung back around to the bar, Maddie and Jake burst out laughing.

Zach looked at them like they’d lost their collective minds. Then he shook his head and muttered, “How does she do it? She lost that round, but she acts like she won.”

“Only Rach can do that,” Jake said through his laughter.

“You’re family dynamics are so strange,” Maddie told Zach.

“I don’t think they’re that strange. Don’t you have any brothers or sisters?”

A vivid image of Laurel’s coffin surrounded by flowers at the front of the chapel flashed through Maddie’s mind. Her face suddenly felt stiff, but she forced her lips to shape the word, “No.”

*

I’ve just stepped on a landmine, Zach thought. “I’m actually kinda glad to hear that,” he said, trying to find a way to keep his simple question from exploding under him. “When that door opened this afternoon, I had visions of some hulking, overprotective brother stomping me into a blood splatter. You probably done noticed I wasn’t exactly prepared to defend myself. Being an overly protective brother myself, I figured a duel at dawn probably wouldn’t be an option. Especially with my choice of weapons.”

“And that would be what?” Maddie asked.

Zach bought a dramatic pause with a sip of beer. “You’ve seen the weaponry. What do you think?”

A grin spread slowly, thawing Maddie’s face, and Zach congratulated himself on sidestepping the danger.

“Could it be the one in your pants?” Maddie asked with mock innocence.

“I didn’t tell you how good I got at those pissing contests, did I?”

It was Jake’s turn to look perplexed. “What are y’all talking about?”

Zach’s grin invited Maddie to enjoy their private joke with him. “You’d’ve had to be there, little brother.”

*

Jake left long before the bar closed, so Zach sat on the bar nursing his beer, watching Maddie, wondering if she was going to invite him home with her. Wondering, too, what had happened to his resolve to get to the bottom of her secrets.

Could he live without knowing what she was running from? Maybe. As long as she acknowledged that there were parts of her past that were off-limits. If he knew which parts were fabricated and that everything else she told him was true and honest, he could politely let the rest go unchallenged.

When, he suddenly wondered, had he started to think about her as a fixture in his world? It had to be nestled somewhere between the extraordinary sex and his instinct to protect her. With that realization, he knew that letting her have her secrets wasn’t the only issue. It wasn’t even the most important one.

Whatever Maddie had left behind had made her run. She’d stolen an identity that wasn’t hers to hide behind. More important, she was still terrified that, whatever or whoever her personal bogeyman was, he would catch up with her. Nor could Zach allow himself to forget that she wasn’t really Jesse’s mamma. As much as he might want to ignore all that to play house with her, he needed to know what she was so afraid of because, if her fears proved justified, not knowing could make all the difference in his ability to protect her.

For both their sakes, he had to find out her secrets.

“Does Claudia still try to schedule everyone to get their days off back-to-back?” Zach asked at one of those lulls when everyone was content with their drinks.

She looked up from the counter where she was slicing lime twists, a sly smile on her face. “Are you asking what days I have off?”

“Busted,” Zach admitted. “What’s my penalty?”

“I’ll let you know. As it happens, Jane’s doctor hasn’t put her on bed rest yet, so she’s still working some of her regular shifts.”

“So you’re still not on a full-time schedule.”

“Nope. I have Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off. Claudia says it’s likely to be the last weekend I have off in a long time, so I’d better enjoy it.”

“Day shift or night shift Sunday?”

“Night shift. Why? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking I oughta go to the Gladewater rodeo this week. I gotta make a decision about a bull. Since you ain’t seen a Texas rodeo, why don’t you and Jesse come with me?”

“Because everything is bigger and better in Texas?”

Zach wagged his eyebrows and smiled suggestively. “Ain’t I already proved that?”

Maddie laughed. “The evidence has been persuasive.”

“Come with me,” Zach cajoled.

“Are you going back to the ranch before then?”

“I oughta. I thought I’d leave in the morning, but I could be back for you Thursday.”

“I don’t know. I could pick up extra shifts if Jane’s doctor does put her on bed rest.”

“Why don’t you think about it?” Zach said. “I could call you Wednesday.”

“I don’t think I’ll change my mind, but you can call.” She started on another lime. “Have you got a room here?”

“Yeah.”

She kept her eyes on the knife in her hand. “If you want to pack your things up tonight and leave from my place in the morning … I mean, you know … if you want to.”

How could she have even the smallest doubt he’d want to? Was she offering in order to soften her decision not to go to rodeo with him? He didn’t answer until his silence made her lift her head to look at him. “I thought you’d never ask,” he said.

Maddie’s cheeks pinked up.

He packed the few things in his room, checked out, and followed Maddie home. He looked askance as she rang her own bell before she let them in the house.

“Giving Peggy warning I’m on my way up,” Maddie explained. Zach groaned inwardly. He was in for a display of conspiratorial winks and nods. Even roused from sleep, Peggy didn’t disappoint him.

As she gathered her text books, Zach said, “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Maddie asked.

“I’m walking Peggy home.”

“She’s only going next door.”

Zach put his arms around Maddie and kissed her on the forehead. “Something you need to understand about us Texas boys. We take care of our womenfolk. All of our womenfolk. I won’t be long.” He left her shaking her head, but smiling.

When they reached Peggy’s front stoop, Zach stopped her. “I was wondering if you’d do me a favor.”

Peggy looked at him curiously.

Zach handed her a slip of paper he’d written his cell number on. “Would you find out what’s Maddie’s favorite flower?”

Peggy grinned. “Of course, I will.”

“For God’s sakes, be tactful. Don’t let her guess why you’re asking.”

Peggy squared her shoulders. “Hard as some people might find it to believe, I do know how to be sneaky when the circumstances warrant it.” The slivers of ice in her tone nearly cut him.

“I’m sure you do,” Zach said, fighting his amusement. “After all, you’re a woman.”

Back in Maddie’s apartment, he wrapped his arms around her, and in the quiet of the night, he felt as though they were the only two people awake in the world.

The sensation endured as they moved to the bed, through their love-making, and even after, as they fell asleep with Zach spooned against Maddie’s back, thinking how content he’d be to end each day with Maddie’s firm ass against his groin.

*

Maddie shifted in her sleep, her hip brushing against his morning erection. More asleep than awake, Zach was barely aware when his hand sought her soft breast or when his hand closed around it. The only sensation that really registered was the increased need in his groin. He rolled on top of her, found the warm spot between her thighs and entered her without foreplay. He might have noticed if she’d resisted or even been passive, but when she responded by matching his demands, his body accepted it as his due. His balls tightened with the impending climax as he stroked in and out. He did nothing to prolong the tension, accepting instead that he would spill into her embarrassingly quickly.

When he was done, his limbs felt too heavy to move. Still buried deep inside her, he lay on top of her without even breathing hard. When she contracted her muscles around him, he moaned. His first conscious thought was to wonder if he could do it again so soon.

He turned his head and saw the first rays of the dawn sun lighting the room. They couldn’t have slept more than four or five hours.

“Zach, you weigh a ton.” Maddie’s complaint had no bite.

He pulled his elbows in and braced his weight on his forearms, still reluctant to pull out of her.

“Sorry. I didn’t give you a chance to catch up.”

“That’s okay. I know how you men are about morning sex.”

“And how’s that?”

“Rude. Selfish. Delightfully eager.”

He let his head drop until his forehead rested lightly against hers.

“So good of you to understand.” His neck tensed, jerking his head up. “Dammit!”

“What?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about a condom.”

Maddie took several slow breathes. With each one, Zach braced himself for the acrimony he deserved.

“We can’t keep making a habit of this.”

“I know,” he agreed, relieved that she took the news calmly.

“Do you have to leave this early?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go back to sleep until Jesse wakes up.”

That wouldn’t be more than an hour or so. Zach rolled off her and went to the bathroom to clean up. Maddie was already asleep when he crawled back into bed. He pulled her tight against him as he spooned into her back, his hand resting on her flat stomach. As he started to drift back to sleep, he fashioned a vision of what lay beneath his hand, deep inside Maddie’s uterus, where he had shot his sperm. With his fingers splayed, his palm pressed firmly against her skin, he imagined her flat stomach swelling ever so slightly as his child quickened inside her womb.