Less-than-Innocent Invitation (3 page)

And she wanted to keep it that way.

“Staying on a ranch. This will be exciting,” Daniel said, breaking into her thoughts.

“Yeah, exciting.” Her voice revealed she was anything but. It was just her luck to have a boss who was a history buff.

Logan punched a button on his phone, then tucked it inside his jacket. He turned toward them. “Everything is all set. Norah will have your rooms ready for you by the time you arrive.”

Daniel clapped him on the back. “We can't thank you enough, Logan.”

Logan was glad things had turned in his favor. “The pleasure's mine.” He looked at Melissa. “All mine, I assure you.”

Daniel's face lit up like a Boy Scout earning his first merit badge. “If you'll give us directions to your ranch, we'll leave the celebration in a short while. The last thing we want is to be an inconvenience.”

“That's not necessary. Stay as late as you like. I wouldn't want you to miss a minute of it.” He gave Melissa a long look. Putting her on the defensive, he said, “Besides, Melissa can find the Wild Spur. She already knows the way, don't you sweetheart? I'll meet you when you arrive.” Touching the brim of his hat, he walked away.

Her mouth dropping open, Melissa stared after him as he exited through the doublewide front doors. From her producer's silence, she knew Logan's comment had left him speechless, too. Facing him, she explained, “I knew Logan in high school.” She hoped that would be enough information to satisfy his curiosity.

It didn't work. Daniel's raised eyebrows caused her stomach to wrench.

“I got the feeling there was more between the two of you than being school chums,” he commented. “So there's another side to my wonderful workaholic reporter?”

Melissa's lips tightened into a straight line. “I am not a workaholic.”

“No? Dear, you haven't been on a date in months.”

“I've been busy working for a promotion, which Jason has promised me after this assignment,” she reminded him.

“I know, and you'll get it. But that doesn't mean that you can't slow down occasionally, have a little fun.”

“I do things for enjoyment. I went out with the gang last week.”

Daniel shook his head. “Going out for drinks with a group of friends from work isn't the same as dating and you know it. You only travel in a pack.” As if jolted by his own words, he looked at the door Logan had just left through, then back at Melissa.

“Don't go reading anything into that wicked mind of yours. I knew Logan a long time ago. That's all.”

“Oh, really?” Daniel raised his dark, bushy eyebrows. “C'mon, Melissa. I'm surprised I'm not singed from the vibes between the two of you.”

“What you were feeling is your imagination getting away from you.”

“You can deny it all you want, but there's something going on between you and Logan Voss.”

“Daniel, you're crazy! I haven't seen the man in years. How could there be anything between us?” Log
ically, it made sense and she hoped Daniel bought it. Because before he'd walked into the foyer and interrupted them, Logan had been about to kiss her. And she would have let him.

Worse, she would have kissed him back.

Oh, Lord, what had she been thinking? When she'd learned the reason Logan had wanted to marry her, her heart had broken in two. She'd prayed that Logan would come after her and tell her she'd been wrong to believe what she'd heard. But he hadn't. It had been years before she'd been able to think of dating again.

Now, back in Royal for a few hours, she'd been tempted by that same destructive path.

Exasperated, Melissa glared at Daniel. “Let's go into the party. There are a few more people I want to talk to.”

“All right.” Daniel followed her. “I'll find you, say, in about an hour.” He opened the door for her. After she entered, he walked in behind her. “Let me know if you're ready to leave earlier.”

Melissa nodded as she made her escape, Daniel's words echoing through her mind.

Let me know if you're ready to leave earlier.

Ha! As if that was even a possibility. The last place on earth she'd thought she'd end up tonight was at Logan's ranch.

There had to be some way to get out of going there. Perhaps Logan had been wrong. It was possible that the hotels weren't solidly booked. How could he even know that for sure, anyway?

She looked around for Rick. Since she'd ridden to Royal with him, she didn't have a car, but maybe she
could borrow his truck and check a few of the hotels on her own. There had to be some other place she could stay.

Because going to Logan's wasn't an option.

“T
here it is.” Melissa pointed out a road off the highway to Rick as they passed a small country food market that had long closed for the day.

He put on his blinker and made a sharp right turn onto the narrow paved road. In the distance caught beneath the moon's glow, she could just make out a house beyond several fenced pastures.

“So this guy you know has a real ranch?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, it's the real thing.” Melissa turned her head away from the window and gave Rick a faint smile. Five years younger than her, he was what women referred to as beautiful—not a common word used to describe a man, but it fitted Rick completely. His black hair was pulled into a ponytail, which accentuated his high cheekbones and gorgeous blue eyes. Surprisingly,
he didn't seem to realize how perfectly God had made him. He was a nice person, too, and they shared a great working relationship.

“How do you know him?” he asked, shooting her a glance.

A flash of her past whipped through her mind. “We met at a party when I was twenty.” Actually, because she and Logan had gone to the same high school, she'd known who he was. He'd been three years ahead of her and hadn't even known her name. Back then, all the girls had had crushes on Logan Voss.

Except she'd never grown out of hers. A couple of years after graduation they met and began dating and she'd fallen madly in love with him. Ruggedly male and hard-working, he was also as gentle as he was intense, as loving as he was stubborn.

“An old boyfriend?” Rick wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Something like that.” An old boyfriend. A former lover. The man she'd planned to marry.

The man who had broken her heart.

Rick slowed the truck to navigate a sharp curve. “So you grew up here?”

“My father was in the service and was transferred to Reese Air Force Base near Lubbock when I was twelve. We passed through Royal on our way there. He liked it here, so he commuted to work. Once I graduated high school I didn't want to move with my parents when they retired to Florida. So I stayed in Royal.”

To be near Logan. But she didn't say that.

She'd never forgotten the moment she'd seen him sit
ting alone at that party. For years she'd admired him from afar, so, gathering her courage, she'd sat beside him and struck up a conversation. They'd spend the remainder of the evening together, then Logan had taken her home.

The instant chemistry between them had led to a heated kiss. A few dates later, with their passion still burning hot, she'd given him her virginity.

Over the next few months, their relationship had grown more intense. And emotional. As a teenager, Melissa had sworn she wouldn't turn out like her mother, a talented dancer who had given up her chance at stardom to become the wife of a career military man and follow him from base to base as he moved up the ranks.

Not her. She had wanted to do so much more.

Until she'd fallen in love with Logan.

For the first time in her life, it all made sense. Love, happiness, being with the man you couldn't live without. Having his children. Growing old with him.

She'd wanted all those things with Logan so much that she'd tossed away her dreams of leaving Royal and becoming a reporter.

Logan had asked her to marry him.

Melissa sighed just thinking about how happy she'd been at that very moment. “Yes,” she'd whispered. And Logan had kissed her tenderly. Then he held her in his arms and said, “I'll have everything I've ever wanted, Melissa. I'll have you and the Wild Spur.”

It hadn't occurred to her that it might be an unusual thing to say at all. He'd always loved the ranch. But the
next day she'd learned from a casual friend the cold truth of why Logan had asked her to marry him—a far cry from his whispered words of love.

The truck traveled over the cattle guard, jarring Melissa out of her thoughts. Her stomach felt like lead as they drove under the Wild Spur entrance and up the long drive to the main house. She stared out the window, mesmerized by how the landscape had changed. Three cottages dotted a circular drive she couldn't recall. Next to them, the trees had flourished, blocking their view of the main house.

Several outbuildings lay to her right, each very large and well-kept. Beyond them in the distance stood an impressive row of stables and several large corrals. Progress and improvements had changed the small ranch she'd known into a major, thriving business.

The truck rounded a small curve and at the sight of Logan's home, she caught her breath. It barely resembled the small, functional ranch house she'd remembered.

Pulling into a driveway of cocoa-colored stone, Rick stopped his truck in front of a grand courtyard enclosed with an equally impressive stone wall. A majestic fountain stood like a monument in the center of it, welcoming them.

She opened her door, climbed out of the truck and her stomach knotted tighter as she took in the massive house. Although she recognized a part of the original building, the majority of it had clearly been constructed since she'd left town.

It was, in a word…stunning.

The Spanish-style house boasted a low-pitched ter
racotta roof, rounded windows and stucco walls painted a pale shade of peach. An array of native foliage gave the iron-gated entryway and courtyard lushness, as did the beautiful flagstone patio and walkway.

It seemed Logan's management of the ranch had paid off nicely. He'd always been devoted to this place, she thought with a sense of resignation—enough to marry her to acquire it. Obviously he'd succeeded in getting the ranch, despite the fact that she'd refused to be used as a ticket to secure his heritage.

Had he and his brother Bart struck another deal of some kind, or had one of them married to lock down their legacy? What had happened to Bart? she wondered.

The brothers had had little in common. Unlike Logan, Bart, a few years younger, had hated living in the country, raising cattle and handling horses. Though Melissa hadn't thought he'd been a bad seed, he'd found his way into his share of trouble. Aware Logan's father had favored Bart, Melissa once had asked Logan why.

He'd told her that their mother had died of cancer when he was eleven and Bart was six. At first, Bart had withdrawn, then later he became difficult to handle. His father had tried to compensate for his distress by giving into his demands. Logan hadn't expressed bitterness or jealousy; he'd simply accepted his father's obvious favoritism without complaining. Or showing emotion.

What had happened between the two brothers since she'd left? Had Bart followed through with his plans to leave Royal for good when he got his share of his inheritance?

Following Rick to the back of his truck, she retrieved
her bag, which held little more than her makeup and one change of clothing. Having tailed them from the celebration, Daniel parked his car behind Rick's truck in the wide driveway. Melissa waited as he got out and joined them.

When she'd agreed to this assignment, it had been with Daniel's assurance that they'd only be in Royal for an overnight stay. No longer.

And surely not as long as it would take to do a series of feature stories on Royal.

Disgruntled at the turn of events, she debated letting someone else approach Logan's door, then decided if she acted as though something was bothering her, it would make her coworkers more curious about her relationship with him. And after the way she and Logan had disappeared from the ball, the last thing she wanted to do was to give either Daniel or Rick anything additional to talk about.

As she started toward the house, the door opened and Logan walked out. He was followed by a short, stout woman with rosy cheeks and a smile big enough to win over Snow White's dwarf, Grumpy.

“I see you made it,” Logan commented, centering his gaze on Melissa as he greeted the group. “This is Norah Campbell. Officially, she's the housekeeper, but she's really the boss. She keeps the place running smoothly.”

Norah gave Logan a fond look, then smiled widely at them. “Welcome to the Wild Spur. We're pleased to have you stay with us. We want you to feel right at home, so if there's anything you need, please let me know.”

Melissa extended her hand and shook Norah's. “Hi,
I'm Melissa Mason. This is Daniel Graves and Rick Johnson. We appreciate having a place to stay at the last minute and hope we haven't put you to too much work.”

“Not at all. It's nice to meet you. I have your accommodations ready.” She nodded to Logan. “Why don't you take the men to their quarters, and I'll show Miss Mason to her room.”

“Melissa, please.”

“And I'm Norah. Let's go inside. I'm sure you're tired.”

As she started to follow Norah inside the house, Melissa heard the groan of a car door opening. Turning back, she saw Rick and Logan get in Rick's truck and Daniel climb in his car. Her heart began to pound as they started their automobiles, then backed out of the driveway. Turning to Norah, she asked, “Where are they going?”

“Logan's taking them to one of the guest cottages. You passed them on the way in. Come, let me show you to your room.”

Melissa watched the vehicles drive away, then pull in several hundred yards from the main house.

Why would Logan locate the men in one of the cottages, separating them from her? Did he want her in the main house to corner her? She knew he wanted to talk about why she'd left years ago, but she had no plans to let him have his way. No good could come from revisiting that emotional nightmare.

“Logan thought they'd be more at ease in one of the cottages,” Norah added as they went inside. “We talked about having you stay in one as well.”

“Why didn't you?” Melissa asked as she took in the breathtaking foyer. Polished wood floors reflected light from a delicate chandelier hanging overhead and an antique grandfather clock stood watch in the corner.

“He thought you'd be more comfortable here in the house.”

Melissa didn't believe that for a minute. Logan had always been as tenacious as a pit bull when it came to getting his way. Apparently that was one thing about him that hadn't changed.

As she followed the housekeeper, Melissa found the rest of Logan's house as extraordinary as the foyer. All on one level, it was spread out, easily more than five thousand square feet. When they neared the living room, Norah stopped and Melissa stared in awe at its richness. Wide framed windows, a large flagstone fireplace and soft leather furniture gave it a comfortable, yet luxurious feel.

“This is beautiful. Everything looks so different.”

“So you've been here before?” Norah asked.

Melissa realized her blunder and forced a smile. “It was a long time ago. How long have you worked for Logan?”

Norah led them down another hallway. “I moved here about eight years ago. My husband passed away and my sister lives nearby and wanted me close to her. I was happy to get a job here. Logan was in need of help and I needed something to do.”

“So you enjoy working for him?” Melissa asked.

The housekeeper smiled. “Oh, I do. I wouldn't want to work anywhere else.”

“He's fortunate to have you,” Melissa commented.

Norah shook her head. “I'm the lucky one. I never had children so I think of Logan as my son.”

Curious to learn a little more about him, Melissa asked, “Is he difficult to work for?”

“Oh, quite the opposite.”

“Really?” She couldn't stop herself from pumping the housekeeper for more information.

“He's awfully quiet sometimes and doesn't go out much. I worry that he's never going to find the right woman and settle down.”

Melissa followed Norah into a bedroom and put her bag on the floor. Did Norah's comment mean that Logan had never brought a woman here? She couldn't help being curious about his past. She walked over to the bed and ran her finger along one of the fluffy pillows.

“How lovely.” The cherry furniture was simple, yet elegant, the queen-size bed covered in a beautiful comforter of burgundy, teal and gold that matched the long drapes at the windows. Iron wall sconces with candles burned a delicate scent of vanilla throughout the room. She looked at the older woman. “Did you decorate it?”

Norah shook her head. “Heavens, no.”

“The room definitely has a woman's touch,” she commented.

“Logan hired a decorator to redo the entire house. He didn't want anything here to remind him of his ex-wife.”

Melissa's gaze snapped to Norah's. “
His ex-wife?
Logan was married?” she asked, breathless.

“Only for about a year from what I've heard. He
doesn't mention her very often, well, truthfully, pretty much never.”

“When was he married?”

“I believe he got divorced about ten years ago.”

Logan had married someone else.

Pain sliced through her. That meant he'd met and married someone shortly after she'd left Royal. Or worse, was he seeing someone else when he was dating her?

Oh, God.

Balling her hands into fists, Melissa fought back waves of heartache. He hadn't loved her after all. He'd wanted this ranch desperately enough to ask
her
to marry him. When she'd left, he hadn't wasted time finding another woman to take her place.

She'd always thought that she'd been right about Logan's motives for proposing, but over the years doubts had plagued her. Having her beliefs confirmed shouldn't have hurt her, but it did.

The bastard!

Who was the woman he'd married? Where had he met her? And more importantly, when?

“I hope you'll be comfortable here. The bathroom is through there. It's completely furnished with toiletries, but if you need anything at all, please press this button.” She pointed to an elaborate intercom system on the wall.

“Thank you.” Numb, Melissa watched Norah leave. All Melissa wanted was this night to be over. And to sleep. Tomorrow would be a long, difficult day. She'd need her wits about her when she saw Logan again.