Matt (14 page)

And when his mouth covered hers, there were no thoughts but one. Oh how she'd wanted this. Only this.

When he wrapped her in those strong arms, she felt the quiet strength of him and thrilled to it.

The more he drew out the kiss, the more her body softened, melted into him, until she could feel him in every part of her.

He lifted his head just enough to nuzzle her cheek, her eye, her forehead.

She gave a long, deep sigh. “You were so quiet tonight, I was afraid you were angry that I was going with Gracie.” She lifted a hand to his jaw. “I know I shouldn't be taking any chances, but…”

“You've got a right to be concerned.” His words, spoken against her temple, sent shivers along her spine. “But try to put everything aside and just enjoy this time with my grandmother. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“It is.” She looked into his eyes. “But if you're not angry, why were you so quiet?”

“I'm not a patient man. And all evening, while my family was having such a good time teasing you, I just wanted you alone. For this.” He lowered his head and took her mouth again.

Curls of pleasure had her insides quivering.

He changed the angle of the kiss and gathered her against him.

She returned his kisses with a hunger that caught them both by surprise.

When at last he lifted his head, he framed her face with his big hands and stared at her with a look that burned clear through to her soul. “I'm leaving now.”

“You could…stay.”

“Not tonight. You need your sleep.” He studied her a minute longer before turning toward the door.

As he opened it he muttered huskily, “When you come back, I'll want a whole lot more than a few stolen kisses.”

He stepped away and pulled the door shut behind him.

She studied the closed door before crossing the room to stand at the window and stare at the night sky.

Matt's words had her touching a hand to her heart, which was pounding inside her chest.

When you come back, I'll want a whole lot more than a few stolen kisses.

Not just words.

It had been a promise. A promise that left her absolutely breathless.

I
t wasn't yet light outside when Vanessa descended the stairs and dropped her backpack in a corner of the kitchen.

Gracie and Frank were huddled in front of the fireplace, heads bent in quiet conversation.

Yancy was draining bacon on a bed of paper towels.

Matt and Burke stomped in from the barn, pausing to remove their boots and hang their hats on pegs along the wall before washing at the big sink in the mudroom.

Spotting Vanessa, Grace hurried over. “I figured you'd be up early. How'd you sleep?”

“Badly. Too excited, I guess.”

“You'll sleep tonight.”

Frank chuckled. “That's a fact. After climbing around these mountains, trying to keep up with my Gracie Girl, I guarantee you'll sleep like a baby.”

Vanessa was working overtime to keep from staring at Matt, but when she turned his way, he winked, and she could feel her face getting all warm.

“'Morning, Nessa.”

“Good morning.” She ducked her head, wishing she could control the blush spreading up her throat and across her cheeks. She hadn't reacted to a guy this way since she was sixteen. But it was impossible to act all cool and composed after last night, and the promise he'd made. Just the thought of it made her body tingle.

He nodded toward the backpack. “That's it?”

“Yeah.” She turned to Grace. “I added a tee and tank and some shorts, but I don't have any work gloves.”

“We've got a shelf full of them in the barn. Remember to pick up a pair before we head out.”

“Okay.” Vanessa chose a glass of orange juice from a tray on the counter.

Matt snagged a mug of coffee and handed it to Burke before taking a second one for himself.

“Breakfast is ready,” Yancy called. “Actually, this is a second breakfast. I served Luke and Reed and Colin theirs more than an hour ago. They're halfway to Eagle's Ridge by now.”

Matt held a chair for Vanessa before sitting beside her. He held a platter of scrambled eggs while she served herself. “You'd better take more than that,” he said, grinning at the small portion on her plate.

“I don't think I can eat a thing. Nerves, I guess.”

“That's all right.” Frank dug into his bacon and eggs. “I saw all the food Yancy packed up for you and Gracie. You could survive up in the hills for a month or more and still not run out of things to eat.”

“Yancy understands the way an appetite sharpens when you're living in the hills.” Grace slathered wild strawberry preserves on her toast. “You did send along some of that torte, I hope?”

Yancy nodded. “I made sure that was the first thing I packed, Miss Grace.”

“Good. The rest is lovely, of course. But that torte…” She let her smile speak for itself as she finished eating.

Half an hour later she and Frank shoved away from the table and led the way toward the mudroom, with Vanessa trailing behind.

She turned. “Thank you for that great breakfast, Yancy. And for all the food you're sending along with us.”

“You're welcome, Nessa. Now relax and enjoy your trek into the wilderness. With Miss Grace along as tour guide, I'm sure you'll have a grand adventure.”

Before she could pick up her backpack, Matt snatched it up and moved along beside her as they made their way to the barn.

He handed her a pair of work gloves. “See if these fit.”

After trying them, she nodded and he tucked them in with her things before stowing the backpack in the truck and holding open the passenger door.

Before she could climb up, Matt laid a hand on her arm. Just a touch, but she felt the quick curl of heat as she turned to him.

“Yancy's right. With Gram Gracie along, you'll have the time of your life.”

“I hope so. I'm so eager to see a herd of wild horses, I'm twitching.”

“Yeah. I can feel it.” He leaned in and touched his mouth to hers.

It was the merest touch of his lips to hers, but it affected her so deeply she couldn't feel her hands or feet as she turned and climbed into the truck and fumbled with the seat belt.

Matt closed the door and reached in the open window, tugging on a lock of her hair. “Go make some memories.”

Grace set a rifle on a rack behind the driver's seat. Vanessa lifted a brow in question, but she merely grinned. “I don't suppose you shoot?”

At Vanessa's quick shake of her head, Grace touched her hand. “Not a problem, Nessa. I shoot well enough for both of us. And I'd never go into the wilderness without my rifle.”

She turned the key in the ignition, and the truck rolled out of the barn. Instead of heading along the gravel driveway, she drove the truck across a flat stretch of ground.

As the older woman waved and called something to Frank, Vanessa stared at the reflection in the side-view mirror of Matt standing straight and tall, his eyes now hidden behind sunglasses.

As eager as she was for this adventure, she had the sudden, almost overpowering desire to run back and fall into his arms and beg him to kiss her one more time.

Go make some memories.

With a sweet smile she sat back and looked around as they drove across a pasture before veering up and up to a high, grassy meadow. Fields so green they seemed like a Hollywood set. The green gradually gave way to a background of colorful bitterroot. And still the truck continued, following no particular trail as it climbed and climbed until they came to the edge of the wooded area. Once there, all Vanessa's senses sharpened. The bright sun became dappled, and the air was heavy with the fragrance of evergreen and wildflowers. Colorful birds darted from tree to tree. And as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she could make out movement. A herd of deer. An eagle lifting from the forest ground with something dangling from its beak.

As the eagle soared, so did her heart. She felt wild joy and a sense of quiet peace. The teeming streets of her city faded away, as did the danger that hovered like a dark shadow. She was actually in the wilderness of Montana, with Grace Anne LaRou as her tour guide. And waiting for her back at the ranch was a handsome cowboy whose kisses promised paradise.

Hours later the truck came up over a rise, and Vanessa gave an audible gasp at the panorama spread out before them. To one side were bleak, barren mountains rising up like a vertical wall from a half-moon-shaped lake, glistening in the sun. On the other side was a series of grassy ranges, each one folding into the next, for as far as the eye could see. And all of them ringed by towering mountain peaks in the distance.

“Oh, this looks like some sort of lost world.”

At Vanessa's words, Grace nodded. “That's exactly how I think of it. My very own uncharted, untouched piece of heaven.”

She put the truck in gear, and they drove slowly along a high ridge until Grace parked the vehicle under a rock ledge.

“I've used this spot before. It's a good place to make base camp. There's a stream over there”—she pointed to a rock-strewn bank and sunlit water meandering just beyond a stand of trees—“and a cave here, once we make certain there aren't any bears calling it their home.”

“Bears?”

“Just a precaution,” Grace said with a reassuring smile. “Afterward, we'll walk a bit, see if we can find any trace of the herd. But we'll return and sleep here tonight. If the weather holds, we can sleep under the stars.” Her tone lowered. “There's nothing quite like sleeping under the stars. Ever tried it?”

Vanessa shook her head. “Not even when I was a kid at camp. We always slept in cabins.”

“Then you're in for a treat. But if it rains, we'll have shelter under that shelf of rock.” She turned to Vanessa. “First we'll check out this cave.”

The two women exited the truck and Grace led the way, carrying a battery-operated lantern. She switched it on before stepping into the cave. Vanessa, trailing behind, looked around nervously, praying she didn't see feral eyes looking back at her.

When they'd checked out the cave and found it empty and, though small, high enough for them to stand in, they walked back out into the brilliant sunlight.

Grace turned off the lantern and set it in the back of the truck, which was littered with her photographic equipment. She looked at Vanessa. “You ready to hike these hills?”

“I can't wait.”

Grace smiled. “Let's do it.”

They hiked for nearly an hour, with Grace pausing every so often to kneel in the grass and examine the ground for signs of horses.

Each time she stopped, Vanessa used the time to stare around with a feeling of awe. This amazing place was even more than she'd hoped for. Sweeping vistas of lush rangeland and breathtaking views of mountains towering in the distance, looking exactly like the pictures she'd carried in her mind.

Here there were no highways. Not even rough roads or the tracks from farm implements. No man-made buildings. No people. The Old West. Raw and untamed. Looking as it had for centuries. A land untouched by human hands.

“Ah.” Hearing the exclamation from Grace, Vanessa hurried over.

“Look.” Grace pointed to something in the grass. “Fresh droppings. A lot of them.”

“But how do you know it's from horses and not some other animals?”

Grace stood. “Each animal has its own distinct markings. In this area there are pronghorns, elk, even higher up there—” she pointed to the mountain peaks “—Rocky Mountain goats. But this tells me the horses are near. And since it's fresh, they'll be close by, giving the mares time to deliver their foals and grow sleek and fat on all this grass.”

Vanessa's heart was beating overtime. “Will we keep on climbing?”

Grace shook her head. “This sunlight will fade quickly once the sun drifts behind that ridge. We'll head back to camp now and settle in for the night. It's time to figure out what we'll have for dinner.”

Vanessa touched a hand to her stomach. “I'd forgotten about food. But now that you mention it, I know I'll be ready to eat after we get back.”

“Nerves beginning to fade?” Grace asked with a grin.

“Yeah.” Vanessa took a moment to look around before turning to follow Grace's lead. “Now that I'm here, and it's even better than I'd hoped, I'm feeling…relieved.”

“You're going to feel even better when we see what special things Yancy sent along.”

“Oh, I hope he sent along some of that chicken.”

“You can have my share. I'm just hoping he packed a big slice of that chocolate-hazelnut torte,” Grace said, laughing.

“How did you find this place?”

Vanessa sat with her back against a boulder, which was still warm from the fading sun, enjoying Yancy's chicken cordon bleu and a roll heated over a firepit Grace had fashioned of some rocks and tree branches.

“I was twenty years old, a college senior, using my spring break to do a film study of the Montana wilderness.” Grace paused to eat the last bite of Yancy's torte before setting aside the plastic plate and filling a cup with coffee. “While up here, I saw my first herd of wild horses. There was this wonderful black stallion standing perfectly still on a rock ledge, keeping watch over his herd grazing in a meadow below. I turned my long-range lens on him and began filming. He was magnificent. I lost my heart in an instant.” Her voice lowered. “Sadly, he spotted me, leapt down from the ledge, and began herding his mares and their young in the opposite direction. I wasn't just disappointed. I was determined to see him again, and to film him with his herd. It became my obsession.”

“Did you ever find him?”

Grace smiled. “Not that year. Before I could pack up and try to track the herd, the most handsome man I'd ever seen rode up out of the wilderness, and I lost my heart for the second time in a single day. Francis Xavier Malloy was simply magnificent. So much better than any of the Hollywood actors I knew who pretended to be cowboys. This man was the real thing. And when I learned that I was on his land, and that he didn't have a wife and children, and he looked at me in the same wild, almost primitive way that stallion had looked, I knew that I never wanted to leave.”

“It must have been a terrible shock to your parents.”

“
Shock
is much too mild a word.” Grace chuckled. “You heard what Dad said last night. It was bad enough that I'd gone off to Montana without a chaperone. But to learn that I intended to stay and marry a rancher I barely knew—he was ready to have me committed.”

“How did your mother react?”

Grace smiled. “Mother was the one who really surprised me. I'd expected her to be too embarrassed to even admit to her society friends what I'd done. Instead, she called me to say that she wasn't at all surprised that I was marrying my first love. She said she would expect no less of her daughter, and that she wished me and my rancher all happiness. She offered to come to the wedding without Dad, since he was sulking, but I told her we intended to marry quickly and without any fuss, and that she could come to Montana and meet him whenever she could persuade Dad to join her.”

“Wow.” Vanessa poured herself a cup of coffee and wrapped her hands around it in the chill of evening. “What did she think of your Frank?”

Grace's voice softened. “Mother died that year, before she had the chance to meet him. But it was enough to know I'd had her blessing.” She brightened. “I've always felt that even after her passing, she was pressing Dad to soften his heart and get to know his only child's husband. And, of course, you can see how successful she was.”

She and Vanessa shared a smile.

“That's really sweet.”

“Yes, it is. I'm a lucky woman.” Grace stifled a yawn. “And now, we'd better get our bedrolls ready. I have a feeling I'll be asleep in no time.”