Slow Burn (A Madaris Family Novel) (10 page)

“And they’re all coming from Justin, Lorren, Slade, and Vincent, no doubt. I want to make doubly sure their assessment is correct. You know how I feel about unwanted surprises. Someone has to protect the family from them. Good night, Alex.”

“Good night, Clayton.” Alex sighed as he leaned over and hung up the phone.

“I gather my brother is sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong as usual.”

Alex gave a warm smile down at his wife. “I guess you can say that. He doesn’t trust Vincent’s new sister.”

Christy laughed. “He hasn’t even met her, and from what I hear she’s a nice person. Clayton is just getting downright cynical in his old age.”

“Maybe. But to put his fears to rest, I’ll check her out…tomorrow.” His voice trailed off somewhat when he felt Christy’s hand touch his thigh.

“Yes, tomorrow,” she said softly.

He reached out and brushed a lock of her reddish brown hair away from her face. They had been married almost two years, and each day he fell deeper and deeper in love with her. “When do you plan to tell the family our good news?” Earlier that night a pregnancy test had confirmed what they’d suspected. They were having a baby and were both thrilled to death about it.

Christy smiled up at him. “At the retirement party Uncle Jake is giving Senator Lansing in a few weeks.” She snuggled closer into his arms. “I want it to be our secret for a while.”

Alex returned her smile. It wouldn’t be the first secret they had managed to keep from the family. “I want it to be our secret for a while, too.”

When he felt her hand move on his thigh again, he said, “This might sound like I’m one greedy bastard, considering what we just did less than an hour ago, but I want to make love to you again.” His voice was low and intimate.

She placed her finger to his lips to silence him and said, “If you’re greedy, then I’m greedier, because I want to make love to you again as well, Alexander the Great. And I love you.”

He smiled against her finger before catching it in his hand and kissing it. “And I love you, too, and I intend to give you everything you want, Christy Madaris Maxwell.”

And then he lowered his head to settle his mouth over hers.

“Good morning, Slade.”

Slade stood when Skye walked out on the patio. With the sun in the sky as a backdrop, Skye looked wide-awake, refreshed, and utterly beautiful. He’d had a rough time getting to sleep last night. She had dominated his thoughts and his dreams.

As if operating on autopilot he took a step and walked around the table and moved toward her. His gaze slowly raked over her, liking what he saw. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a western shirt. Lorren had probably loaned her the outfit, because for some reason he couldn’t imagine the outfit being something she owned. She had a little makeup and the shade of the lipstick on her mouth would give any red-blooded male plenty of ideas of just what he would love doing to her lips. It definitely gave him plenty.

He came to a stop directly in front of her, mere inches separating them. “First you eat; then it’s riding lesson number two.”

She smiled, nodding. “Okay.” She glanced around. “Have Justin and Lorren left for Dallas already?”

Justin and Lorren were spending the day visiting friends, John and Juanita Graham. John was a Texas Ranger and he and Justin had been close friends for years. “Yes, they’ve gone, and the kids have all left for school. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Shaking her head, she had a feeling he was about to tell her. “No, what does it mean?”

He took a step closer. “It means unless Rubena picks today to return from her vacation, we’re all alone and will have the entire place to ourselves.”

The huskiness of his voice as well as his close proximity to her, not to mention the sexy grin on his face, sent a heated sensation shooting to all parts of her body. She swallowed hard before asking, “Will we?”

“Yes, and do you know the first thing I want to do this morning?”

She shook her head again and hoped the twisted curls on her head hid her smile. “No, I’m clueless as to what’s the first thing you want to do this morning.”

“Take a guess.”

She glanced up at him, and his promising smile pretty much spelled things out for her. They needed to talk regardless of whether talking would do any good. It seems when it came to this sexual attraction they shared, they preferred kissing instead of talking. A part of her wondered what would happen when they discovered kissing was not enough.

Before she could get her mind to think any further about that question, he took a step even closer, getting all into her personal space. She met his gaze, and automatically her mouth tilted upward to his. He smiled as he placed his arms around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

“This,” he said in a husky tone, “is the first thing I want to do this morning.” And then he lowered his lips to hers.

The moment their mouths touched, Skye released a deep moan. And when he intensified the kiss and at the same time shifted one of his hands upward, moving her twisted curls aside to lightly stroke the satiny skin at her neck, another moan, this one coming from deep in her throat, rumbled in her chest. Something warm and inviting began spreading to all corners of her body.

She returned the kiss in the ways he’d taught her to do over the past couple of days, and she mated with his tongue as if her life depended on it.

A need she didn’t quite understand seemed to suddenly fill every pore of her being as he continued to kiss her, sending sensational shivers all through her body.

The clearing of a deep, husky throat immediately caught their attention, and she pulled away from Slade so abruptly, she almost lost her balance. His hand snaked out and captured her around the waist to keep her from falling. She turned, relieved Justin and Lorren hadn’t returned unexpectedly. What she saw was two men—two tall men—leaning against the brick wall staring at her and Slade with something akin to amusement lurking at the corners of their lips.

Her attention was snagged by Slade’s deep voice when he asked in an annoyed tone, “What are the two of you doing here?”

She watched a mischievous smile play over the lips of one of the men. He was the one who had dimples just like Slade. “Luke and I were curious as to what was keeping you here, so we decided to come and check things out for ourselves.” His smile widened before he added, “And now that we see the reason, we understand completely. Sorry for the interruption.”

Both men then turned and walked away.

Slade studied Skye’s features, trying to gauge her reaction to his brother and cousin’s untimely interruption. He could tell she was uncomfortable with the situation by the way she was looking everywhere but at him.

He reached out and ran a finger along her chin, then tilted it upward so their gazes could connect. “If you want me to regret kissing you just now, I won’t.”

“But your brother and cousin—”

“Have lousy timing and are probably pea green with envy right now. Don’t get all nervous on me, Skye. Relax. For them to see me kiss you isn’t a big deal.”

Skye took a deep breath and then she took two steps back. “It might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me. I care about what people think about my character.”

“And you don’t think I care about mine? And what does kissing me have to do with your character?”

Skye inhaled deeply. “I don’t want your family thinking the wrong thing about me. About us.”

He dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “And what’s the wrong thing they can think, Skye?”

She nervously rubbed her hands together. “The misconception that there’s something going on between us.”

His deep chuckle caused a shiver to pass through her body. “Sweetheart, whether you want to admit it or not, there
is
something going on between us. How many kisses will it take for you to accept it? Did you not admit just yesterday that we’re special friends who enjoy kissing?”

“Yes,” she answered honestly. “But—”

“But what?”

Her chest rose and fell as she took another deep breath. “But what’s everyone going to think if you and I are painting this picture of two people who are doing something?”

She stood there looking so damn proper, even in her jeans and shirt, he wanted to reach out and kiss that proper look right off her lips. “What exactly are they supposed to think we’re doing?”

She looked at him with an exasperated expression on her face. “More than just kissing, Slade.”

His eyes held her captive when he leaned closer and whispered huskily, “Don’t put any ideas in my head, Skye.”

His words made her pulse rate increase, had visions dancing in her head. Her heart began to pound against her ribs. “You aren’t taking any of this seriously, are you?”

Smiling, he reached out and draped his arms around her neck. “I’m taking
you
seriously, Skye. Never doubt that. I don’t want you to think we did anything wrong because we were caught kissing. People kiss. Friends kiss. I thought we cleared that up yesterday.”

They had, but she hadn’t expected for them to put on a show for anyone today. “I might be making a big deal out of this, Slade, but I was raised by parents who felt respecting yourself and others respecting you is the most important thing.”

“And you think that I don’t respect you?”

“I don’t want you to think that I make a habit of letting men kiss me.”

“Again, I thought we cleared all this up yesterday. I don’t think that. In fact, I feel damn special that I’m the one kissing you.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.”

“Th-thank you,” she whispered, and Slade could actually see relief in her expression. He wondered why she was so hung up on what others thought of her. Granted he wished more women cared, but for her it seemed to be an obsession with protocol.

“You don’t have to thank me, Skye. You’re very unique. I knew that the moment I opened the door to you a few days ago. I don’t know the last time I’ve been this attracted to a woman, and it doesn’t come as a surprise that the woman is you, mainly because in just the two days I’ve gotten to know you, I’ve come to accept that you
are
special. And don’t worry about Blade and Luke. After you meet them, you’ll see they’re great guys.”

He then smiled teasingly and added, “Even if they do have lousy timing.”

He then pulled her into his arms. Instead of giving her the kiss he wanted to give her, he just stood there and held her in his arms.

Skye grinned across the table at Slade’s twin. Slade had been right. Blade and Luke were two great guys.

It had only taken a few seconds to size Blade Madaris up as a player and Luke as a loner. Both men were extremely handsome and had great personalities. And with Slade in the mix, she could imagine the trouble the three of them could get into when they were together. And it wasn’t hard to tell they were related. There seemed to be several similarities with all the Madaris men she had met.

Rubena, Justin and Lorren’s housekeeper, had come back to work from a weeklong vacation and had set the table to serve breakfast on the patio.

“So when will you know if you’re coming to work for me and Slade this summer?” Blade asked Skye.

She raised a brow and glanced across the table at Slade. He threw up his hands, laughing. “Hey, don’t look at me; I didn’t say a word to anyone. One thing you’re going to discover about the Madaris family is that news travels fast, so if you want something kept a secret, you’d better keep it to yourself.”

“And no matter what you do,” Luke added after taking a sip of his coffee, “don’t tell Traci or Kattie. That’s like publishing it in the newspapers.”

Skye smiled. “Who’re Traci and Kattie?”

“Two of Justin’s sisters, and they pass information through the family like wildfire.”

“But how would they know of my plans for the summer?”

“Vincent,” Blade said, chuckling. “He probably was so excited at the thought that the two of you would spend the summer together in Houston that he called everyone. Well, not exactly everyone, but he talked to the people who like keeping the family informed about things.”

Skye had to smile at that. She liked the thought that Vincent was excited about their spending time together. “You said Traci and Kattie are two of Justin’s sisters. He has more?”

Slade nodded. “Just one more. Christy is the baby girl who’s about your age. She married Alex Maxwell two years ago. And Alex’s brother, Trask, is married to our cousin Felicia.”

“Oh.” Skye sighed. This was getting rather confusing. Earlier they had mentioned that Lorren’s best friend, Syneda, was married to Justin’s brother Clayton.

Blade smiled. “Are we confusing you, Skye?”

“No,” she insisted, chuckling, not about to admit anything to him. “It’s just that your family seems to get bigger and bigger every time someone talks about them.”

“It’s probably even larger than you can imagine. There were seven Madaris brothers. All are still living except for Uncle Robert. He got killed in the Vietnam War. That was Felicia’s daddy,” Luke explained.

Skye nodded. “Who’re Justin’s parents?”

“Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Marilyn,” Slade replied. “They had six kids. Justin is the oldest; then there’s Dex and Clayton. Then came the girls, Traci, Kattie, and Christy.”

“Don’t try to learn about everyone now,” Luke warned. “There are too many of us. Besides, if you decide to spend the summer in Houston, you’ll get to meet everyone at the Madaris family reunion in July.”

She looked surprised. “I will?”

“Yes. I’m sure Great-Gramma Laverne has heard about you by now. She’ll want to check you out.”

Skye lifted a brow. “Check me out for what?”

She saw Blade and Luke exchange amused glances. Slade, she noticed, had suddenly grown an interest in the contents in his coffee cup and was gazing down into it.

It was Blade who finally spoke, and the smile on his face reminded her so much of Slade. “To see which of her great-grandsons she can match you up with.”

Skye blinked, pretty sure she had not heard him correctly. Before she could ask Blade to repeat himself, Luke said, smiling, “But don’t worry about it. We’ll make sure she knows you already belong to Slade.”

You already belong to Slade
.

A few hours later Luke’s statement still bothered her. That was the kind of nonsense she didn’t want anyone to start assuming. And although she and Slade had tried convincing the two men they were nothing more than friends, she had a feeling Luke and Blade hadn’t believed them. But then how convincing could you be when you’d been caught kissing?

After breakfast Slade had given her another riding lesson while Blade and Luke had gotten settled in the guest rooms Rubena had given them to use. When Skye and Slade had returned to the ranch Rubena had a message from Vincent. He had called from the guidance counselor’s office at school. In order to get full credit for the student internship, he would have to work for the Madaris Construction Company the full three months. There could be no exceptions.

After Rubena had delivered the message and walked off, Slade glanced over at Skye. “Does that mean you’ll be spending your summer in Houston?”

Skye inhaled deeply. She’d been hoping it wouldn’t have to come to that. “It looks that way, because I really want to spend time with Vincent. But I don’t want to disrupt any plans he’s made with your family.”

Slade smiled. “You won’t be. He has cousins his age that he hangs out with whenever he comes to town, but all of us are so glad to see him whenever he visits Houston, we have him rotating all over the place. But he mostly stays with his grandparents Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Marilyn.”

Skye nodded. “I think it’s just wonderful how all of you just embraced him into the Madaris family although you knew he was adopted.”

“It didn’t matter. Once Justin and Lorren claimed him as their son, that pretty much settled it. He automatically became one of us, and you’ll find when it comes to family, the Madarises protect their own. It’s just that simple.”

Skye wished it would have been just that simple in her world. Her aunt Karen had always been kind to her while she’d been growing up, but when her mother had seen the relationship getting too close, she had stepped in and had stopped Skye from going over her aunt’s house on the weekends to visit with her. Skye had never understood why her mother had done that. Skye assumed that since her mother and aunt didn’t get along most of the time that had had a lot to do with it, but now she wondered if her adoption was the reason. Since she’d found out she was adopted from overhearing the conversation between her aunt and her parents had her mother been fearful that Karen would let something slip around her? Had that fear led Edith to end Skye and her aunt’s close relationship?