Desperado (5 page)

“You don’t imagine that I care what you like?” she replied with a pleasant smile.

His jaw tautened as he stared at her, his thick eyebrows drawn together at the bridge of his nose. “I’m serious. Lassiter and his wife were involved in a shoot-out not too many years ago, right in his office. It’s well-known that he takes on cases other detectives won’t touch.”

“I’m going to be in the same building with him, not in his office,” she pointed out. “I do investment counseling, not detective work. Although, a change of careers is pretty tempting right now,” she added to irritate him.

He was overreacting. He knew it, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Maggie’s abrupt departure from the country had shaken him more than he’d realized at first. The thought of never seeing her again was unsettling. Involuntarily he reached out a lean hand and caught a strand of her long, dark hair between his fingers, testing its silkiness.

“Just being in Houston right now is dangerous for you,” he said quietly. “You’re walking into something I can’t even tell you about.”

Which she knew already, thanks to Kit. She didn’t let on.

“I’m twenty-six,” she pointed out, trying not to react to the feel of those sensuous fingers in her hair.

His eyes flashed up to meet hers. They were stormy, intimidating, full of secrets. “In some ways, you’re unbelievably naive,” he countered. “The world is a bad place. You’ve never seen how dark it can be.”

She laughed without humor. “Do you think so?” she murmured with a strange look in her eyes.

He didn’t understand her response to the statement. Maggie kept secrets. He wondered just how terrible they were. The two of them had never been confidants, because he wouldn’t let her near him emotionally. He’d pushed her away, kept her at bay, all the long, lonely years. For the first time, he regretted it. Maggie had been the one person in the world who really cared about him. Because he was afraid of loss, he resisted close contact. But soon she could be half a world away, and there would never be another human being who shared his memories, his pain, his loneliness.

“You look sad,” she remarked involuntarily.

He grimaced. “You’re the only other person alive who remembers our time with Amy,” he said slowly, “my brush with the law, Patricia’s suicide, Amy’s illness and death.”

“All the bad memories,” she remarked.

“No!” He met her eyes. “There were other things. Picnics.
Birthday parties. The time she brought home a model train set for Christmas—one we knew she had to have made sacrifices to buy because she didn’t have much of her fortune left by then—and the shock on her face when you loved it as much as I did. We spent hours lying on the rug in the dark, watching the lighted train go around.”

She smiled with memory. “Yes. And I helped you make the little scale buildings that went with it. You were out of school and in college then, just before you dropped out and went with the Houston Police. Amy was devastated. So was I,” she added, dropping her eyes.

“You both thought I’d end up in a coffin after my first week,” he scoffed.

“We should have known better. You were always thorough and methodical.”

His eyes narrowed. “Except once. The night Amy died.”

She jerked back away from him, her scalp stinging as he was forced to let go of her hair or risk hurting her more. She massaged the hurt place with her fingers, avoiding his eyes. “That was a long time ago.”

“Did you ever sleep with your husband?” he asked unexpectedly.

She actually gasped. The question was so blunt that she couldn’t believe what he’d just asked.

He studied her shocked face, rigid with distaste, for a long moment. “I didn’t think so,” he said after a minute. “His second wife in the divorce decree accused him of being
impotent and abusive. He pretended to be an invalid, but there wasn’t anything much wrong with him. Except extreme alcoholism, and a violent temper.”

Maggie knew her face was white. “How…?”

“I went down to the courthouse and researched him,” he said. His expression grew hard. “He had a history of arrests for drunkenness and at least two for domestic abuse. Did you know that when you married him?”

Her jaw clenched, but her lips were trembling. She averted her gaze to the windshield. Memories flooded her mind, sickening memories. “Please, don’t,” she choked.

“Did he hit you, Maggie?” he demanded.

Her hand reached for the door handle automatically. She was halfway out when he pulled her gently back inside and closed the door again. The position he was in, his body close to hers, his chest at an angle above her, made her tremble.

He looked down into her wide eyes at such proximity that she could see the black rims around his very dark brown corneas. She could see the thick, straight, short lashes on his eyelids. She could smell the coffee on his breath and the clean scent of his body and clothes.

“I never understood why you married him,” he continued, his eyes narrowing as they searched hers. “You had nothing in common and he was twenty years your senior. It was quick, too—less than a month after Amy’s death, and one of your coworkers said you barely knew him. Everybody thought it was for his money. He was rich.”

“I can’t…I won’t…talk about him,” she choked. “Cord, please…!”

He felt her hand pushing against his chest, but he ignored it. “You said he cost you something precious. What?”

Her gaze fell to his wide, hard mouth, to the chiseled look of it with perfect white teeth barely visible in its parting. She remembered the feel of it on hers. Even the memory of pain and embarrassment didn’t ease the hunger for it. She wondered if he knew?

He did. He felt the quick rush of her breath at his mouth. He could see the hammer of her pulse at the collar of her shirt. He could feel the coldness of her perfectly manicured fingers through his shirt. She wanted him. That, at least, had never ebbed.

His fingers went to her chin and traced the skin next to her lips. “And here we are again,” he whispered. He bent, his mouth poised above her parted lips. He hung there, his fingers maddening on the corner of her mouth, on her lower lip, where they touched in sensuous little tracings.

She moaned helplessly. She bit the sound off almost as it exited her throat, but she knew he heard it.

His nose brushed against hers as he felt the softness of her lips under his fingertips. She was still perfect to him, the most perfect woman he’d ever known, physically, mentally, emotionally. He couldn’t get within two feet of her without having her draw him like a magnet. He was helpless. He hated it.

“Cord,” she groaned, stretching up toward him, enticing his mouth. Her fingers went into the thick hair above his ears and
dug into his scalp, pleading for more than the sensual torture he was offering her. The clean, spicy scent of him was in her nostrils, the soft warm whip of his breath teasing her parted lips. She ached to have that hard mouth crush down on hers and drive her mad with pleasure!

He moved closer. His chest pressed down against hers involuntarily. He could feel her full breasts against him, feel the hard tips biting into his chest even through two layers of fabric. Her mouth taunted his, followed it, lifted to tempt it into coming closer. He drank in the fragrance of roses that clung to her and felt himself caving in. He needed to hold her. He needed to kiss her. He couldn’t help it. He had to…!

The sudden opening of car doors close by jerked him back from Maggie. He saw three men getting out of a sedan a few parking spaces away, giving them amused looks.

He got back under the steering wheel without looking at her again. He started the car and put it into gear, ignoring the glances of the three men on their way toward the hotel.

Maggie’s hands were shaking. She wanted to scream and throw things. This was the second time she’d let him torment her physically. And had she fought, protested, dragged herself away, dared him to touch her? Of course not. She’d melted into him the minute he touched her. Great self-control, girl, she told herself with silent contempt. Really great!

He didn’t look at her until they were out of town on the road that led to his ranch. She was more composed now, but she still looked devastated. He couldn’t blame her. He felt the
same way. He didn’t want to be attracted to her, but he was. He always had been. But the older he got, the more uncontrollable it was.

“Don’t beat yourself to death over it,” he said carelessly. “Maybe we’ve both spent too much time alone lately.”

“June will be shocked to hear that!”

He chuckled at the sting in her tone. He gave her a wry glance. “She’s dating a corporal with the police department,” he drawled. “Her father likes him, but he thinks she’s too young to marry. She doesn’t agree.”

She raised both eyebrows. She didn’t say a word.

He grimaced. “I was furious because you waited four days to come and see me, to see if the blindness was permanent,” he said.

It wasn’t much of an explanation, but she understood. June was a cutting tool he’d used on her heart. He wasn’t certain that she was jealous of him, but he thought she’d be hurt if he threw another woman in her face. She was. It was chilling that he knew her that well. On the other hand, he’d admitted that she could hurt him, as well. It was a milestone in their stormy relationship.

He glanced at her as he turned down the long driveway with painted white fences on both sides.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” he mused. “I never have to explain anything to you.”

“That works both ways.” She turned her eyes toward the old fighting bull in the pasture on her side of the car. “Maybe it’s some sort of mental shorthand.”

“Maybe it’s ESP,” he murmured dryly.

“Someday we’ll have to find out if it works across oceans,” she replied smartly.

That stung. She probably knew it. “Why do you have to leave the country?” he asked quietly.

“I told you. I’m twenty-six. I want to do something adventurous while I can do it without leaning on a cane.”

“Adventure isn’t what it’s cut out to be,” he told her.

“Davy Crockett wouldn’t agree with you,” she informed him. “Neither would Jim Bowie, or George Custer, or Crazy Horse or Pancho Villa or Genghis Khan.”

He pursed his lips. “You certainly covered all walks of life with that group.”

She chuckled.

“Why don’t you move out here with me?” he asked out of the blue. “You can learn the cattle business. We could play with the train sets in our spare time. I’ve got a whole room dedicated to them, complete with buildings and tunnels, mountains and even running water for trestles to go over.”

She turned her purse in her hands and hated the invitation. He was inviting his foster sister to move in. Nothing more.

He pulled up in the driveway that circled at the front door and cut off the engine. He turned to her with narrowed eyes. “You want me,” he said bluntly. “I know it. I want you. You know that, too. But nothing will ever come of it unless you want it to. I made a vicious mistake with you once because I was out of my mind with grief and alcohol. I never make the same mistake twice. You’ll be safe here.”

“That’s an interesting choice of words,” she replied slowly. “Safe from your old enemy, you mean.”

His chin lifted. “From him, and from me, Maggie,” he replied. “I won’t make you afraid of me. Not in any way.”

She laughed mirthlessly. “I’ve been afraid of you for years, in between attacks of helpless attraction,” she said matter-offactly. “There has to be a cure somewhere. If I go far enough, maybe I can find it.”

It was a confession, of sorts. He rested one arm over the steering wheel and studied her sadly. “All we have left,” he said softly, “is each other.”

Her eyes flew to his. She was pale, confused, uneasy. She frowned. “Don’t do that,” she said irritably. “Don’t make it sound like you need me. You never have and you never will. I’m a memory adjunct. That’s all I’ll ever be.”

“Our lives are intertwined. You can’t break an eighteen-year bond just like that,” he pointed out. “Some marriages don’t last a fraction that long.”

The word froze her. She averted her face.

“It wasn’t an insult,” he said at once, misunderstanding her reaction. “Your husband wasn’t good to you. You had every reason not to want to remember him.”

“I have more reason than you’ll ever know,” she said without meeting his speculative gaze. “Happy marriages are a fairy tale.”

“Dane Lassiter wouldn’t agree with you,” he mused. “Neither would your friend Kit.”

She shrugged. “They got lucky.”

“You don’t think you could?”

She rubbed at a spot on her purse. “I don’t ever want to marry again.”

He hesitated. “Maggie, don’t you want children someday?”

The question sent her gaze flying up to meet his. The pain, the anguish, the haunted look in them shocked him.

She opened the door and got out.

He followed, determined to find out why she looked that way, when Red Davis sped up the driveway and stopped even with Cord.

“The irrigation equipment’s up and running like a track star, boss,” he called with a grin. “And they promised to replace any part that misfires again!”

“Good work.”

“Thanks! How are you doing, Maggie?” he called to her with a big grin.

Cord’s eyes flashed. “I don’t pay you to flirt with my foster sister,” he shot at the younger man, and he wasn’t teasing.

Davis saw that. He cut his losses, waved and shot off again down the ranch road.

Cord’s attitude puzzled Maggie. It was oddly like jealousy. But that was an outlandish assumption. It would take a miracle to get Cord jealous of her.

He led the way through the living room, where she left her purse, and into the dining room. Four places were set at the table, and an older white-haired man was occupying one of them while June put dishes of food on it.

“Hi!” she called to Maggie. “I hope you like chili and Mexican corn bread.”

“Love them. And there’s supposed to be a cherry pie?” she added hopefully.

June grinned, with a glance at Cord. “Oh, I heard somebody had a passion for it. I’m famous for my cherry pie. You can even have vanilla ice cream on it, if you like. It’s homemade, too,” she added.