Книга - The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding

The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding
Sherryl Woods


Sometimes doing the right thing isn't what you might imagine in this fan-favorite story from New York Times bestselling author Sherryl WoodsHalf virginal innocence, half saucy temptress, willful Lizzy Adams had long since stolen rancher Hank Robbins's heart. And then one night, passion overcame common sense and left them both with a little more than just wonderful memories–and the determination to "do the right thing."For Lizzy, that meant not roping the rugged rancher into marriage. And for Hank, well…what would it take to make the beloved mother-to-be his wife?







Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t what you might imagine in this fan-favorite story from New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods

Half virginal innocence, half saucy temptress, willful Lizzy Adams had long since stolen rancher Hank Robbins’s heart. And then one night, passion overcame common sense and left them both with a little more than just wonderful memories—and the determination to “do the right thing.”

For Lizzy, that meant not roping the rugged rancher into marriage. And for Hank, well...what would it take to make the beloved mother-to-be his wife?




Hank knew the precise instant Lizzy came back to town.


He could feel her presence. The air seemed to crackle with electricity. And that old familiar ache in the region of his heart started up again.

Still, call it masculine ego or sheer muleheadedness, Hank wanted Lizzy to come to him.

Oh, he knew, sure as shooting, that she’d been avoiding him all these years. He’d seen her blush after she’d kissed him on the eve of her departure. He’d also seen her quick rise of anger and pride when he hadn’t tried to stop her from leaving.

Little did she know what letting her go had cost him....

Hank knew—had always known—that he wanted more from Lizzy than a brief, passionate fling. And for that, she had to come to him. In her own time. On her own terms.




Dear Reader (#uca6a5148-fa57-5c3a-a02d-d8c50f968320),


During this holiday season, don’t forget to treat yourself special, too. And taking the time to enjoy November’s Special Edition lineup is the perfect place to start!

Veteran author Lisa Jackson continues her FOREVER FAMILY miniseries with A Family Kind of Gal. All THAT SPECIAL WOMAN! Tiffany Santini wants is a life of harmony away from her domineering in-laws. But there’s no avoiding her sinfully sexy brother-in-law when he lavishes her—and her kids—with attention. Look for the third installment of this engaging series in January 1999.

And there’s more continuing drama on the way! First, revisit the Adams family with The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding when Sherryl Woods delivers book four in the popular AND BABY MAKES THREE: THE NEXT GENERATION series. Next, the PRESCRIPTION: MARRIAGE medical series returns with Prince Charming, M.D. by Susan Mallery. Just about every nurse at Honeygrove Memorial Hospital has been swooning over one debonair doc—except the R.N. who recalls her old flame’s track record for breaking hearts! Then the MEN OF THE DOUBLE-C RANCH had better look out when a sassy redhead gets under a certain ornery cowboy’s skin in The Rancher and the Redhead by Allison Leigh.

Rounding off this month, Janis Reams Hudson shares a lighthearted tale about a shy accountant who discovers a sexy stranger sleeping on her sofa in Until You. And in A Mother for Jeffrey by Trisha Alexander, a heroine realizes her lifelong dream of having a family.

I hope you enjoy all of our books this month. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Silhouette Books.

Sincerely,

Karen Taylor Richman

Senior Editor




The Cowgirl & The Unexpected Wedding


Sherryl Woods




www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


SHERRYL WOODS

Whether she’s living in California, Florida or Virginia, Sherryl Woods always makes her home by the sea. A walk on the beach, the sound of waves, the smell of the salt air all provide inspiration for this writer of more than sixty romance and mystery novels. Sherryl hopes you’re enjoying these latest entries in the “And Baby Makes Three” series for Silhouette Special Edition. You can write to Sherryl or—from April through December—stop by and meet her at her bookstore, Potomac Sunrise, 308 Washington Avenue, Colonial Beach, VA 22443.


ADAMS FAMILY TREE









Table of Contents


Cover (#u5190d74b-4d12-5e06-8601-8bc2576e827e)

Back Cover Text (#u19b557c0-7076-5399-bb81-b7808324c204)

Introduction (#u2d02384e-ff50-5ca8-9654-0830a560b6ea)

Dear Reader

Title Page (#u65178a9f-d1c9-5cbc-8312-942a4d5da113)

About the Author (#uff9f45d7-3fb3-52a5-b97f-dd8c38572210)

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)




Prologue (#uca6a5148-fa57-5c3a-a02d-d8c50f968320)


Lizzy gazed at the grades posted for her anatomy exam and sighed. A lousy C. In all of her twenty-four years, she’d never gotten below a B on any test. Studying was second nature to her, cramming for exams as natural as breathing. She’d known the material inside out, but on the day of the test her mind had been somewhere else, not on bones and body parts.

Nothing, nothing about the past weeks of her first year in medical school had gone right. The classes had been the most challenging and fascinating she had ever taken, but she’d faltered more than once on exams she should have aced, like this one. It was a lack of concentration, pure and simple, and she knew why.

Her roommate regarded her with a sympathetic expression. “It’s only because you’ve been worried about your dad,” Kelsey said. “You’ll do better once you’ve seen for yourself that he’s doing okay.”

That was part of it, Lizzy agreed. When she should have been memorizing anatomical details, instead her thoughts had been straying to her father.

Harlan Adams had had a mild heart attack the week before, too mild to require her to come back to Texas, too serious to let her concentrate on her studies. All she could think about was the upcoming spring break and her scheduled visit to the family ranch so she could see for herself exactly what shape her father was in. She wouldn’t put it past him or her mother to keep the truth from her, if they thought it would worry her when there was nothing she could do to change it.

The huge Adams family revolved around her father. Though he was in his eighties now, none of them could imagine life without him. This heart attack had been a warning that he wasn’t invincible. She’d heard the stunned shock in the voices of each of her older brothers when she’d spoken to them. Her older half sister, Jenny, had been even more transparent. Jenny, who wasn’t afraid of anything, was clearly terrified at the prospect of losing their father.

In the end, despite his irksome meddling, Harlan Adams was the force that guided all their lives. And even though he’d hated seeing his youngest—the surprise of his life, he liked to say—go off to Miami to medical school, he’d done what needed to be done to pave the way. Lizzy would always be grateful to him for that, for letting her go her own way.

He hadn’t been so easy on his sons or even on Jenny, who’d been fourteen and hell-bent on self-destruction when he’d married her mother. He’d forced Luke, Jordan, Cody and Jenny to fight for their chosen careers, putting up roadblocks and hurdles that would have daunted them had they been less determined. Lizzy had been prepared to do the same.

She’d begun by using her wiles as his “baby girl” and then dug in her heels as a typical Adams. Not even the formidable Harlan Adams had had the strength to stand in her way. As much as she loved ranching and despite a whole rebellious year during which she’d experimented on the rodeo circuit, medicine had always held a special place in her heart.

Maybe it had something to do with all those TV shows she’d devoured—reruns of the old Marcus Welby, M.D. and Ben Casey series, hot new series like ER and Chicago Hope—shows that had made medicine seem every bit as thrilling as a few seconds on a bucking, bareback horse. She’d thought about medicine all through her undergraduate days at the University of Texas, volunteered at a nearby hospital to soak up the atmosphere, and taken a premed program, just to prove to herself that she’d chosen wisely.

Only one man could have made her change her mind, she thought with a predictable surge of very complicated emotions. Rancher Hank Robbins had had the power to sway her decision way back when she’d first left for college, but he hadn’t. He’d wished her well and waved goodbye as if she’d been no more than a casual acquaintance.

Even now, years later, tears threatened as she thought of how easily that particular man had let her go even after the impulsive, passionate kiss she had initiated had proved just how badly he wanted her to stay. Maybe he’d only meant to do the honorable thing, but rejection was rejection and it had hurt more than she could say.

And yet, if she was to be totally honest, she couldn’t help feeling at least a trace of gratitude that he, like her father, hadn’t stood between her and her dream. He’d been twenty-four then, the same age she was now, and already he’d been wise enough to see she needed to test her wings.

Still, in all the years since, she’d been careful to avoid Hank. Embarrassment over that kiss was only part of it. Stubborn pride had kicked in, too. But the bottom line was something else entirely. She was afraid, a flat-out coward, in fact. To be honest, though, she wasn’t sure what she feared most; that he might not let her go a second time...or that he would.

Yet she couldn’t be back home for long without wondering about him. She was pathetically eager for any mention of him, any hint of gossip about his activities. And every time his name came up in conversation, she was terrified that it would be in connection with a wedding announcement. She’d found she could accept with relative calm the news of his being seen with this woman or that. It was only the repeat of the same woman’s name that stirred a well-spring of anxiety deep inside her.

It was all ridiculous, of course. In almost five years away, she’d dated dozens of men herself. After the first couple of years when she’d stared at an old snapshot for hours on end, lately she’d gone for entire weeks without once picturing Hank’s rugged features or wishing she could hear the low, seductive sound of his voice.

Eventually, she had buried the snapshot in the bottom of a dresser drawer and rarely took it out deliberately. When she stumbled across it, though, her heart always lurched, the pain as fresh as it had been five years ago. Schoolgirl crush or not, she had idolized the cowboy next door.

And all it ever took to resurrect the memories of that long-ago and very much unrequited love was the thought of going home. She’d been thinking about Hank nonstop for the past few days, ever since her mother had called to tell her about her father’s heart attack.

The two men were so much alike, despite the decades of difference in their ages. Stubborn, strong men, both of them. Men with staying power. Men capable of powerful emotions and guided by a deep-rooted sense of honor.

So, the truth was, Kelsey was only partially right about Lizzy’s thoughts being on her father, instead of concentrating on her exams. In addition, she’d been wrestling with the thorny question of what to do about Hank Robbins, how to—or even if she could—shake the hold he had on her. She’d finally concluded that there was only one way to get Hank permanently out of her thoughts. She had to swallow her pride and see him again. This time she wouldn’t avoid him. This time she’d discover if the attraction was still alive.

Maybe then she would be able to put Hank Robbins behind her once and for all, get her medical degree and begin practicing in some big city so far away that she’d never be reminded of him at all. Maybe then she would be able to stop comparing every man she met to the one who’d gotten away.

Or maybe things would get a whole lot more complicated, she conceded candidly. More fascinating, yes. She recalled the way his lips had felt on hers, the way his arms had felt around her. Definitely fascinating. But there was a price for fascination, a whole Pandora’s box of complications.

“Lizzy, are you okay?” Kelsey asked, her brow over her thick horn-rimmed glasses knitted with concern. “You’re not really worried about this grade, are you? It’s a tiny blip on your academic record.”

Lizzy forced a smile. “I’m fine,” she insisted, setting out for the chemistry lab. “One more exam to go, and then I’m out of here.”

Unfortunately, the chemistry exam had nothing to do with the hormonal tug-of-war between a man and a woman. In her current state of mind, she could have written lengthy essays on that particular subject.

On a more optimistic note, it was a written test, rather than a practical exam. The way her mind was wandering, if she’d had to conduct experiments, she very likely would have blown up the whole blasted building.




Chapter One (#uca6a5148-fa57-5c3a-a02d-d8c50f968320)


“Lizzy’s corming home,” Cody Adams said casually as he and Hank sat on a fence rail between their properties.

Hank had no difficulty at all keeping his expression impassive. He’d had lots of practice over the years at pretending that he had no interest whatsoever in Lizzy’s comings and goings. Unfortunately, Lizzy’s big brother had his own opinion of Hank’s fascination with his baby sister and he used almost any opportunity to taunt Hank about it.

“For how long this time?” Hank inquired, keeping his tone every bit as neutral as Cody’s. Most of Lizzy’s visits had been whirlwind affairs during which he’d never once caught a glimpse of her. He suspected that was deliberate on her part. He also had no reason to think this time would be any different.

In fact, he’d long since come to terms with the fact that keeping his distance from Mary Elizabeth Adams was the wisest thing he could do. The woman had a way of clouding his thinking, of making him want things he had no business wanting if he expected to turn the run-down ranch he’d bought into a respectable neighbor for the Adamses’ White Pines operation. Besides, Lizzy wasn’t interested in being a rancher’s wife. She had her own dreams.

“A couple of weeks, I suppose. Whatever spring break is these days,” Cody said.

“I see. I imagine she’s been anxious about Harlan.”

“That’s part of it, I’m sure.” Cody grinned. “Then again, I don’t think Daddy’s the only reason she’s coming.”

“I’m sure she misses all of you,” Hank said, ignoring the blatant innuendo in Cody’s remark.

Cody chuckled. “Give it up, Hank. You’re not fooling anyone. Why don’t you ask what’s really on your mind?”

“Which would be?”

“When she’s coming home for good.”

“She’s not,” Hank said flatly. “She made that clear way back. She’s going to be a hotshot, big-city doc. From the day I bought this place, all she talked about was her fancy office and her fancy patients.”

Cody shook his head. “For a smart man, you are the dumbest son of a gun I’ve ever met.”

Hank refused to take offense. “Thanks,” he said dryly. “I’ve always held you in high regard, too.”

“Can’t you see that all that talk about setting up practice far away from Los Piños was so much nonsense? All she wanted was for you to ask her to stay. One little sign from you, and she’d be back here in a flash.”

Hank wished he could believe his friend, but Cody was every bit as capable as his daddy of wishful thinking. “Did she ever once say that?” he demanded. “Or are you into mind reading now?”

“It’s as plain as day,” Cody insisted. “Always has been. Don’t you think it’s time you did something about it?”

“Me? Not a chance. I don’t intend to tangle with a woman who’s got her mind set on a certain path for her life, especially when that path takes her far away from Los Piños. I chose to be here. She couldn’t wait to get away. She’d just end up resenting me, and then where would we be?” He shook his head. “No. This is for the best. Lizzy’s smart and ambitious. She’ll get the life she wants.”

“Paths have a way of coming to a fork,” Cody advised him. “Leastways that’s what Daddy always says. Maybe when Lizzy hits that crossroads, you could help her decide which way to go. It’s always been plain that you have more influence over her than the rest of us. Even Daddy admits that, though it clearly pains him to think that he can’t control her.”

“I don’t think so,” Hank said. “That’s just Harlan dreaming up a new way to get what he wants and using me in the process.”

Cody regarded him knowingly. “Are you saying you aren’t already half crazy in love with Lizzy?”

“I’m saying that it doesn’t matter whether I am or I’m not,” Hank said impatiently. “I’m not what she wants.”

“A hundred bucks says otherwise,” Cody taunted.

Hank stared at the older man, whose own kids were about the same age as his baby sister. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Cody right. It had sounded an awful lot like he was actually daring Hank to make a pass at Lizzy.

“You’re betting me to do what?” he asked cautiously.

“See Lizzy, flirt with her, see where it leads. If she blows you off, I’m wrong and you win.”

“And just how far am I supposed to carry things to win this bet?” Hank asked. “I don’t want you and Luke and Jordan chasing after me with a shotgun.”

“Not that far,” Cody retorted with a hard glint in his eyes and a harder edge to his voice.

“See what I mean. You all would have my hide if I actually pursued your baby sister. You chased off every other man around these parts who was interested in dating her.”

“It wasn’t the dating we were concerned about,” Cody said, his temper visibly cooling. “Besides, even though you’re too stubborn to admit it, I know you care too much to ever hurt her.”

“I’d say your logic is twisted,” Hank retorted, torn between anger and laughter at the pure foolhardiness of Cody’s plan. “You want me to put my heart on the line, then be glad of the hundred bucks you’ll give me if your sister tells me to take a hike?”

“Then you’re admitting your heart would be at stake,” Cody said with a hoot of triumph. “I knew it. Daddy said so, too.”

“I suppose he put you up to this, too. Well, it’s wishful thinking on your part and Harlan’s. I’m not admitting a damned thing,” Hank corrected. He allowed the weight of his words to linger, before adding impulsively, “But what the heck, you’re on.”

He wasn’t going to admit it to Cody, but he’d been looking for an excuse for a very long time to see Lizzy Adams again. Maybe there’d be fireworks. Maybe there wouldn’t. But it sure would break up the monotony of his unceasing thoughts on the subject of the pretty little gal he’d let get away.

* * *

“Will you get that danged stethoscope away from me?” Harlan shouted at Lizzy. “You’re my daughter, not my doctor.”

“I just want to see for myself how you’re doing,” Lizzy protested.

She’d been home less than a half hour and so far she was no closer to knowing exactly how her father was doing than she had been back in Miami. The only certainty was that he was every bit as cantankerous as ever.

He scowled at her, daring her to put the stethoscope anywhere near his chest again. “You got a degree yet?”

“No.”

“Then keep that thing away from me.”

Lizzy sighed and put the stethoscope back in her medical bag. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me take your pulse, either.”

“You think I don’t know why you’ve been clutching my wrist every few minutes since you walked in the door?” Harlan grumbled. “If you haven’t found the pulse by now, I must be dead.”

Lizzy resigned herself to getting a complete picture of her father’s medical condition from his doctor and not firsthand. She leaned over his bed and hugged him, relieved by the strength with which he hugged her back.

“What’re you checking for now?” he grumbled as he released her.

“That was a daughterly hug, nothing more,” she reassured him.

He regarded her warily. “You sure about that?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, then. Sit down here and tell me what you’ve been up to. Don’t leave out any of the juicy stuff, either. Have you found yourself a man yet?”

She should have known it wouldn’t take long to get to the subject nearest and dearest to his heart. “Daddy, not every woman needs a man in her life,” she explained for the thousandth time, even though she knew she was wasting her breath.

“Don’t give me that feminist hogwash. How’re you going to give me any grandbabies if you don’t find a man?”

“Maybe I’ll just have them on my own,” she taunted because she knew it would irritate him. Clearly, he was well enough to argue. He was probably well enough to be out of bed, too. His wife Janet had hinted that he was playing invalid just to entice his baby to stay around a little longer. If his doctor confirmed that, Lizzy was going to drag him out of bed by force and put him on a regimen of exercise that would have him pleading for mercy.

She shot him a deliberately innocent look and added, “I think I’d make a terrific single mom, don’t you?”

“Over my dead body!” he shouted.

“You keep losing your cool like that, and you will be dead,” she informed him mildly.

His gaze narrowed. “You said that on purpose, didn’t you?”

Lizzy grinned. “Yep.”

“Daggone it, girl. You know my heart’s weak.”

“I don’t know that,” she reminded him plaintively. “You won’t let me check it.”

He scowled at her, then said casually, “Cody saw Hank Robbins the other day.”

“Really?” Getting that word out without betraying any emotion was harder than tangling with her daddy over the state of his health.

“He said Hank was asking about you.”

Lizzy’s heart did a little tap dance of its own. “Oh? How is he?”

“Getting along right good,” Harlan said. He shot her a sly look. “Cody says he’s thinking of getting married and settling down.”

This time her heart plummeted straight to her toes. “Married?”

“You sound surprised. Ranch life’s a whole lot easier if there’s a woman you love by your side. Besides, he’s not getting any younger. I’m sure he wants kids.”

“I suppose,” she said as her heart thudded dully. “Who’s he marrying?”

“I didn’t say he had anyone special in mind, just that he was thinking of it.”

Lizzy stared at her father’s innocent expression and chuckled. She should have known he was up to something. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

He grinned. “Yep. Worked, too.” His expression sobered. “Why don’t you just break down and see the man, Lizzy my girl? You know you want to. You were always crazy about him. For a few years there, you were thick as thieves. It made me hope that you’d settle down right next door. I never did figure out what happened between the two of you.”

“Nothing happened.” Which, of course, was the whole point. She stood up and leaned down to kiss her father’s weathered cheek. “Stop manipulating, Daddy. I’d already planned to see Hank while I’m here.”

His expression brightened. “Whooee! It’s about time you showed some sense.”

“Daddy! Don’t make too much of this.”

“Okay, okay. You going to see him today?”

“I don’t know when I’m going to see him.”

“Don’t waste too much time. Spring break’s short.” He regarded her wistfully. “Or were you thinking of sticking around?”

“Daddy,” she pleaded.

“Okay, okay,” he said again. “I’m an old man. I’m allowed to indulge in a little wishful thinking.”

“Don’t pull that old-man garbage with me. You’re going to outlive all of us. You’re too ornery not to.”

“Sooner or later, age catches up with all of us.” He caught her hand in his and clung to it “Don’t let life pass you by, Lizzy. I know you love medicine, but I know something else, too. You’ve always had a soft spot in your heart for that man up the road; Don’t pretend you don’t, not with me. I’m just saying whatever you do, don’t wake up one day with regrets.”

“I told you I was going to see him, didn’t I?”

“No need to get defensive, darling girl. I can’t help doing a little prodding. It’s my nature.”

Lizzy sighed. “It surely is.” She leaned down and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Now, get some rest and leave Hank Robbins to me.”

Harlan Adams grinned, the color in his cheeks getting better every second. “Something tells me the poor man doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Maybe you’re overestimating my charm. Hank didn’t have a bit of trouble saying goodbye when I went off to Austin to college or down to Miami for med school.”

“Maybe he was just wise enough to let you go after what you wanted. That’s not the kind of thing you should blame a man for. In fact, maybe you ought to take a good hard look at what it cost him to let you leave.”

Lizzy touched a finger to his lips to silence him. “You’re overselling, Daddy. I already know what a paragon of virtue Hank Robbins is. I fell for the man when I was sixteen years old and he bought the old Simmons place. Nothing’s changed in the eight years since.”

“Then what are you waiting for, girl? Go find him and tell him straight-out what you want.”

“I suppose you know what that is, too,” she said, wishing she had so few doubts. Loving Hank had been complex enough years ago. Now, with medical school convincing her that she’d chosen exactly the right career for herself, loving him had gotten a whole lot more complicated.

“You want a husband and babies,” her father said without hesitation.

“If only it were that simple,” Lizzy murmured.

“What was that?”

“You left out medicine, Daddy. I want to be a doctor, too.”

“So? You won’t be the first doctor to get married and have babies.”

“You seem to forget that I have to finish medical school, an internship and my residency. Do you think Hank’s going to wait all that time? You’ve already said he’s in a hurry to have a family.”

“Darlin’ girl, that’s what compromise is all about.”

Lizzy hooted at that. “What do you know about compromise?”

“Hey, your mama and I don’t agree on every little thing. We work things out.”

“I’ll remind you of that the next time you’re trying to bully her into letting you have your way.” She squeezed his hand again. “Now get some sleep. I’ll be back to see you later.”

“After you’ve seen Hank, right?”

Lizzy rolled her eyes and left the room without answering. She found her mother lurking in the hallway.

“How much did you hear?” Lizzy asked.

“Enough to know that he’s trying to marry you off before you go back to school,” her mother said with a rueful smile. “Thank you for not arguing with him too ferociously.”

“What would be the point? He knows I want to see Hank. He’s just trying to make sure I do it on his timetable. There’s nothing new about that.”

“No, that’s your father, all right. When he gets an idea into his head, he can’t wait to set it into motion.”

“That’s how he got you to marry him, isn’t it?” Lizzy reminded her. “He wheedled and cajoled and finally wore you down.”

Janet Runningbear Adams chuckled. “It wasn’t a case of wearing me down,” she insisted. “I fell in love with him too quick for that to be necessary. I just held out to keep him on his toes.”

“That’s not the way Jenny tells it,” Lizzy said. “She says the two of them had to conspire to get you to walk down the aisle.”

Janet winked. “And I’ve always let them think that It gives me a good bit of leverage around here. Now come on into the living room and tell me all about school and Miami. Did you know I went there a couple of times when I was married the first time and living in New York? Jenny’s father liked to go there on vacation, but from all I’ve read, it’s changed a lot over the years. In those days, there were still old people rocking on the porches of those hotels in South Beach. Now, if the pictures I see are to be believed, the place has been overrun with sexy models in bathing suits and in-line skates.”

Lizzy grinned. “That’s not so far off, but can we talk about it at supper? I’d like to go for a ride. It’s been way too long since I’ve been on a horse.”

“Of course it can wait. Are you going to see Hank?”

“You, too?”

“Sorry.” Her mother studied her intently. “Well, are you?”

Lizzy shrugged. “I’m not sure. I suppose I’ll make up my mind while I’m riding.”

“Well, in case you decide that the answer’s yes, Cody tells me Hank is working in his south pasture today. You know, the one that conveniently butts up against ours. I believe he’s replacing a fence that Cody swears was just fine the last time he checked it.”

“I’ll remember that.”

“Be back by suppertime,” her mother reminded her. “The whole family’s coming for dinner to welcome you home.”

“I’ll be back,” Lizzy promised.

“Bring Hank, if you like.”

“If I see him.”

“Oh, something tells me you’ll see him,” her mother said. “Can I just add one piece of advice to whatever your daddy’s been telling you?”

Lizzy paused in the doorway. “What?”

“This isn’t a game, Mary Elizabeth. While you’ve been gone, the rest of us have been left to watch Hank. The man’s been miserable without you, but he’s gotten by. Unless you’re really sure about what you want, don’t start something up with him.”

Lizzy looked her mother squarely in the eye. “I was never the one who was unsure, Mom. Hank didn’t just let me go. He practically pushed me out the door. You all seem so all-fired sure that he wants me, but he’s never once given me any evidence of that. How come nobody seems worried that I’m the one who’s going to wind up hurt?”

“Because you’ve always been able to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, just the way the song says. And maybe because you’re the one who’s going to walk away in a couple of weeks.” She gave Lizzy a penetrating look. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Lizzy said quietly. No matter how things turned out when she saw Hank Robbins again, she was going to be on that flight back to Miami. She sighed heavily. “Maybe I won’t go for that ride this afternoon, after all. I think I’ll go on up to my room and unpack. I’ve got some thinking to do.”

“The answers aren’t in your room,” her mother argued. “Something tells me they’re out in Hank’s south pasture.”

Lizzy grinned at her beautiful mother. Janet Runningbear Adams’s Native American ancestry had grown more pronounced as the years lined her face. Her straight black hair was streaked with gray now, but her eyes sparkled with intelligence and wisdom.

“Now who’s trying to manipulate me?” Lizzy teased. “You’ve been with Daddy way too long.” Her expression sobered. “He really is going to be all right, isn’t he?”

Her mother met her gaze evenly. “If he takes it easy and stops sneaking into the kitchen for ice cream when I’m not looking. I’m thinking of having the refrigerator padlocked.”

“It won’t do a bit of good. He’ll just find somebody in the family who’ll sneak things in for him.”

“You’re probably right. I caught Harlan Patrick taking cigars up to him the other day. He swore he’d just forgotten to take them out of his pocket, but Cody’s boy never could lie worth a darn. You should have heard your daddy when he found out I’d confiscated the things.”

“When did Daddy start smoking cigars?”

“When he found out he shouldn’t. He puffs on one every now and again just because he knows it makes me furious.”

Lizzy chuckled. “He does know how to rile you, doesn’t he?”

“Oh my, yes.”

“Mom, I’m sorry I wasn’t here when he got sick and that I couldn’t get back right away.”

“Oh, sweetie, don’t feel bad about that. You have a right to live your life. And neither of us wanted you to take time off from your studies when we knew everything was going to turn out fine. Of course, your father and I both wish you were closer to home and that we could see you more often, but we’re proud of you. Taking on medical school is a big deal. We know you’re going to be a fine doctor.”

Lizzy thought of the grades she’d gotten on her last exams. “I wish I had your confidence.”

Her mother regarded her with concern. “Troubles with your classes?”

“Nothing to worry about,” Lizzy reassured her. “I’ll get a grip on things once I get back.”

“I’m sure you will. Now, go. If you’re not going for a ride, get some rest before supper. You’ll need it to fend off all the nosy questions. Your brothers and Jenny may complain about Harlan’s meddling ways, but they’ve inherited the tendency.”

Lizzy retreated to her room, which remained exactly as she had left it, with the ruffled curtains and rodeo posters, an admittedly incongruous mix that pretty much summed up her personality.

Instead of unpacking, though, she went straight to the window seat and settled back against the mound of pillows, staring out across the rugged terrain, imagining Hank out there somewhere, his skin bronzed by the sun and glistening with sweat.

Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow she would face him and find out if anything at all had changed between them. With luck she wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of him. She sighed at the improbability of that. With better luck, he would sweep her into his arms and tell her he couldn’t live without her. Now that, probable or not, was something worth waiting for.




Chapter Two (#ulink_dd9e6e03-122a-56e2-8f44-44d3666c6ba9)


A man could only mend the same fence so many times without looking like a darned fool, Hank thought as the sun beat down on his bare back. Cody Adams had passed by twice the day before just to get in a few taunts about the obviousness of his activity and to keep him updated on Lizzy’s whereabouts.

Even if Cody hadn’t told him, though, Hank was pretty sure he would have known the precise instant Lizzy was back at White Pines. He could feel her presence. The air seemed to crackle with the electricity of it. And that old familiar ache in the region of his heart started up again.

“Just come to dinner at White Pines tonight,” Cody had suggested. “You know you’d be welcome. The whole family will be there.”

“I know that.” Hank said.

He liked the whole Adams clan, from Harlan on down. They’d always made him feel like one of them. The littlest rascals in the family were so used to his presence, they had even taken to calling him Uncle Hank. He’d liked the feeling of belonging and he’d enjoyed spending many an evening with them since buying his ranch, but this was different This time Lizzy would be there, and he didn’t know what kind of welcome to predict from her, not when they’d parted on such uneasy terms.

“Another time,” he said, covering his regret.

“She won’t be here forever,” Cody had reminded him. “And we have a bet.”

“It’s her first day home. There will be time for me to make good on that ridiculous bet.”

Call it masculine pride or sheer muleheadedness, but what he didn’t say was that he wanted Lizzy to come to him, that he wanted to know that she’d missed him at least enough to finally seek him out.

Oh, he knew as sure as shooting that she’d been avoiding him all these years. He’d seen the flush of embarrassment in her cheeks after she’d kissed him on the eve of her departure for college. He’d also seen the quick rise of anger and pride when he hadn’t tried to stop her from leaving. She’d been so sure he would, so confident that that kiss would make a difference. He’d seen that, too.

Little did she know what letting her go had cost him. That unexpected kiss had turned him inside out No woman had ever made him want so much. And no woman had ever been so far out of reach. The distance was far greater than the miles between Los Piños and Austin or even the miles between home and Miami. They were separated by their dreams.

His were simple. He wanted a wife and children and a small ranching operation that he could take pride in having built from the ground up. The Triple Bar was his. There was no history or conditions tied to it, the way there would have been if he’d stayed at his daddy’s place. In that, he was a whole lot like Luke Adams, the oldest of Harlan’s sons.

Lizzy’s hopes and ambitions were more complex and all-encompassing. Harlan Adams had laid the world at the feet of his baby daughter, and she had embraced it all. Hank wasn’t sure she could ever be happy with a life as quiet and self-contained as the one he could offer.

He knew—he had always known—that he wanted more from her than a brief, passionate fling. And for that, she had to come to him in her own time, on her own terms. He’d long ago accepted the fact that she might never come at all.

Knowing that, he’d turned Cody’s invitation down, then spent a miserable night back at his own ranch, cursing the day he’d ever met the pretty little sixteen-year-old who’d gone and grown up into a beautiful, willful woman who’d twisted his heart into knots. No man should have to contend with loving a woman like that and watching her walk away.

Today he was back in the same pasture, doing the same work all over again, hoping to catch at least a glimpse of her. What kind of fool did that make him? He’d been asking himself that since sunup and he didn’t like the answer any better now than he had hours ago.

Hopefully, Cody wasn’t spreading the word about what a pitiful spectacle Hank was making of himself. When he glanced up a few moments later, he thought he was seeing things. There was Lizzy Adams strolling across his pasture looking very much at home and pretty as a picture in her snug jeans and bright red shirt, her black hair streaming down her back under a big black Stetson. Right at this second, with that long, athletic stride of hers, she was a cowgirl through and through. He could almost make himself believe she hadn’t changed at all.

Nor, unfortunately, had his reaction to her. His blood heated as if she’d done a whole lot more than offer him a smile and a wave. He was glad then that he’d waited to see her, glad that this first meeting wasn’t taking place in front of all those prying, hopeful Adams eyes.

She looked confident and sassy and so damned tempting that Hank clutched the posthole digger a little tighter to keep from dragging her straight into his arms and giving her a proper—well, improper, actually—welcome.

Lizzy didn’t seem inclined to show the same restraint. Her pace never even slowed as she sashayed toward him, lifted her hands to his cheeks, gazed straight into his eyes and planted a kiss on him guaranteed to fell a saint. The woman never had hesitated to take what she wanted. Her daddy had always led her to believe that it was her due.

There was hunger and passion and maybe even a little greedy desperation in that kiss on his part and hers. She smelled of sunshine and some kind of exotic flower and she tasted just the way he’d remembered with a hint of mint on her breath. They were both trembling and breathless by the time she pulled away.

“Damn,” she murmured, her expression shaken.

Hank grinned. He knew precisely how she felt, as if the ground had shifted under their feet when everyone had declared the earthquake safely past He dredged up his sense of humor to keep from revealing how shaken he, too, had been, how eager he was for more.

“Was it everything you remembered?” he taunted.

She scowled up at him. “Oh, go to hell.”

“Now, that’s a fine way to greet an old neighbor.”

“The kiss was the greeting. The rest was regrets.”

He laughed at that. “I know exactly what you mean.”

She regarded him suspiciously. “You do?”

“I was kinda hoping I’d gotten it all wrong, too. Care to try again, just in case the first time was an accident?” The question had nothing to do with his bet with Cody and everything to do with his longing for further experimentation. He’d spent too many restless nights dreaming of having this woman back in his arms. The discovery that she still fit him like the other half of a carved piece of wood was too tempting to resist.

Lizzy shook her head as if to clear it. “No, please. Once was enough to prove the point.”

“Coward.”

“Me?” she protested. “If you thought the last kiss was all that great, where have you been for the past five years?”

He liked the disgruntled attitude and decided to spur it on. “Comparison shopping,” he said.

She frowned at that.

Hank clung to the tiny hint of jealousy. “According to your family, you haven’t exactly been living in a cocoon,” he accused, immediately proving that he was just as capable of envy. Every mention of a man in Lizzy’s life had set acid to churning in his gut, though until now he’d been good at hiding it.

“True.”

He studied her speculatively. “So, Miss Lizzy, what do we do now? Wait another five years before we try it again?”

She considered that, her expression thoughtful as her gaze locked with his. Heat sizzled in the air. Finally she shook her head. “Pick me up at six.”

Hank’s pulse kicked up like an unbroken horse at the touch of a saddle. “For?”

“I wish I knew,” she said with a sigh. “Trouble, more than likely.”

“Now, Miss Lizzy, I do like the sound of that,” he retorted.

“Don’t go getting any wild ideas, cowboy,” she said, and started to clamber back over the fence.

Hank wasn’t ready to see her go. Not yet, not even with the promise of a whole evening ahead of him. “Lizzy?”

“Yes?”

“If you’re not busy,” he said oh so casually, “why don’t you stick around?”

“Why?” she asked bluntly. “You need some help with this fence? Word is it was just fine before you started tampering with it.”

He winced at the direct hit, but pressed on. “Actually, I was hoping you’d join me for lunch. I brought a couple of extra sandwiches, just in case you happened by.”

Her expression brightened. “Ham and cheese?” she asked, eyeing his saddlebags with a gleam in her eyes.

“On Mrs. Wyndham’s home-baked pumpernickel bread,” he said, knowing she would find that—if not him—irresistible.

“Did you bring pickles, too?”

“A whole jar.”

She was pawing through the saddlebags in an instant. When she’d plucked the thick, foil-wrapped sandwiches from them, her face lit up.

“I’ve dreamed of Mrs. Wyndham’s sandwiches,” she admitted as she moved to a spot in the shade of a huge old cottonwood. “I’ve been in a lot of delis the past few years, but none of them has gotten it quite right. Your housekeeper ought to be declared a national treasure.”

“It’s the bread,” Hank said, taking a spot beside her and stretching his legs out in front of him. “I don’t know what she puts in it, but the taste can’t be matched.”

“How’d you remember that I loved these so much?”

If only she knew how many times he’d sifted through the memories of every moment they’d ever shared. After all, she’d trailed after him for years, pestering him with questions and as time passed and she grew into a woman, blistering him with looks hot enough to sizzle steak.

“I remember a lot of things,” he said quietly, his hat low so she couldn’t read his expression.

“Such as?”

He could pretend, as he had done so many times in the past, treat the question dismissively, or he could tell the truth. Maybe it was time for a little straightforward honesty between them.

“For one thing, the way your eyes light up with golden sparks when you take the first bite,” he said, tilting the hat back and keeping his gaze on her steady. “The way your tongue darts out to lick the mustard from your lips. The way you always save one bite as if you can’t quite bear to finish.”

She blinked and swallowed hard, but it was Hank who looked away first. If he started cataloging all the rest of the things he remembered about Lizzy, they’d waste the whole afternoon and his blood would be in a heated frenzy.

“How’s med school?” he asked, forcing a neutral tone into his voice. This was safer ground, turf that would remind him of all that stood between them still.

“Okay.”

“Still getting straight As?”

“Not this quarter,” she said.

He heard the rare insecurity in her voice and wondered at it. “How come? Is it tougher than you expected?”

Even as he asked it, he wondered if he wanted the answer to be yes, wanted med school to be so tough that she’d give up on it and come home. But of course, Lizzy was no quitter and coming home a failure wouldn’t sit well with her. That was no way to get what he wanted, and he knew it.

“Not so tough. I just haven’t been able to keep my mind on my studies the way I should the past few weeks.”

“Since Harlan’s heart attack?” he guessed, knowing how mat would have thrown her. He’d almost called her then to offer support or sympathy or, just as likely, to finally hear the sound of her voice again. That was what had held him back. He hadn’t fully understood his own motives, and that was dangerous with a woman like Lizzy.

She nodded, then faced him, her green eyes with those daggling flecks of gold now clouded with worry. “Do you know how he is?” she asked. “I keep getting the feeling that nobody’s telling me the whole truth.”

He wanted to smooth away her frown, but settled for a teasing comment intended to do the same job. “Hey, you’re the budding doctor. Couldn’t you tell by looking at him that he’s doing okay?”

“He looks good,” she admitted. “But he wouldn’t let me examine him.”

Hank chuckled at her disgruntled tone. “I’m surprised you didn’t wrestle him down and do it anyway.”

“Believe me, I was tempted.” She regarded him thoughtfully. “And you haven’t answered my question, either. How is he?”

“What did your mother say?”

“Hank, you’re being as evasive as the rest of them,” she accused.

“I’m just saying if you want answers, the best people to ask are those around him, not me. Your mother doesn’t lie to you, does she?”

“No, but—”

“No buts. What does she say?”

“That he’s recuperating nicely and he’ll be fine if he takes it easy.”

“Well, then, that’s your answer.”

“No,” she said, clearly unconvinced. “He should be up and about by now. You know Daddy. He never was one for sitting still for more than a minute.”

“Maybe he’s just hoping to get a little sympathy from his baby girl.”

“Maybe.”

He could tell that she still wasn’t reassured. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

“Not worried,” she said slowly, lifting her gaze to his. “Scared.”

He saw now what he should have seen all along. “You’re scared of losing him?”

Tears welled up in her eyes and came close to breaking his heart. She nodded.

“The others have all had him for a long time,” she said in a choked voice. “Not me. Twenty-four years isn’t nearly long enough.”

Hank reached out and brushed away the tear that was tracking down her cheek, barely resisting the temptation to pull her into his embrace and comfort her. “Something tells me Harlan will be around a long time yet.”

“Is that guesswork or wishful thinking?”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s going anywhere until he’s had a chance to dance at your wedding. It wouldn’t be like him to give up before getting his way.”

A smile trembled on her lips. “He does seem to be fixated on getting me married off and pregnant. You’d think all those grandbabies and great-grandbabies already overrunning the place would be enough to suit him.”

“But none of them belong to his precious baby girl,” Hank countered. “You were the surprise and the blessing of his life. Naturally, he wants to see you settled.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Yours, of course. Always have been.”

She regarded him with an unblinking gaze. “You have, haven’t you? Even when you thought I’d lost my mind for running off and getting on the rodeo circuit.”

“Now, that one did take a few years off my life,” he said, recalling the heart-in-his-throat moments she’d put him through every time she’d climbed onto a bucking horse. “But nobody’s ever been able to change your mind once you got something into your head. I figured it made more sense to make sure you could stay on a horse than to fight you.”

“If it had been up to Cody, Jordan and Luke, they would have locked me in my room until I came to my senses,” she recalled, grinning. “You and Daddy were the only ones who didn’t try to stop me.”

“What would have been the point? You’d have climbed out the window.”

She leaned back against the trunk of the tree and gazed around, then sighed. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed all of this?”

“Not enough to come home for more than a minute at a time the last five years,” he retorted.

Her gaze locked with his. “You noticed? I’d wondered if you had.”

“I noticed,” he said.

“You didn’t exactly burn up the phone lines between here and Austin or here and Miami.”

“Did you want me to? I thought the whole point of going away was so you could try your wings away from all the overprotectiveness around here, mine included.”

“Maybe it was, at the beginning,” she conceded. “Rebellion seems to be one of those Adams traits.” Her lips curved. “But I missed this. I missed—”

Hank held his breath.

“—you,” she said softly, as if she were testing it. “I missed you.”

Damn, but it was good to finally hear her say the words. But missing wasn’t loving. It wasn’t saying that this time she’d stay and make a life with him. He couldn’t put his heart on the line for that. “I missed you, too, kid.”

She glared at him, just as he’d known she would.

“Kid?”

Hank winked. “You’re still younger than me.”

“Oh, yeah. What are you now? Pushing sixty, right?”

“Not even half that, smart aleck.”

“Twenty-nine isn’t all that old, Hank.” She looked him over with a deliberately provocative gleam in her eyes. “Looks as if you have a few good years left in you, if you’d work a little to get yourself in shape.”

“What’s wrong with the shape I’m in?” he demanded. “It can’t be all that bad. You’ve been ogling me since you came out here.”

“Have not.”

“Have, too.”

She chuckled. “Listen to us. We’re back to bickering the way we used to.”

“Some things never change.”

“I wish nothing had to change,” she said with a sigh.

He sensed the shift in mood went beyond the bickering of two old friends. “You’re thinking of your father again, aren’t you?”

She nodded, then forced a smile. “But all the worrying and wishing in the world won’t change things.”

“Have you talked to his doctor?”

“Not yet.”

“Then go. Do that this afternoon. Maybe it’ll put your mind at ease.” He touched a finger to her cheek, watched the color bloom at the light caress. For an instant, her gaze clashed with his and he thought for sure she was going to turn her face ever so slightly and press a kiss to his palm.

But she drew in a deep breath and shot to her feet instead. “I think I will go see the doctor.”

“Still want me to pick you up at six?”

She gave him a sassy grin. “Unless you’re having second thoughts.”

“Oh, no, darlin’. Where you’re concerned, I’ve always had a one-track mind.”

* * *

Hank’s words lingered in Lizzy’s head for the rest of the afternoon. There’d been a challenge there, no doubt about it The man had actually been flirting with her, which had to be a first She couldn’t help wondering whether that was because he’d finally seen that she was all grown up or whether something else was going on. living with a houseful of manipulators had made her wary of sudden shifts in attitude.

Of course, wariness wasn’t enough to keep her home. She was curious to see just where this brand-new attitude would lead them. In fact, now that she’d been reassured by her father’s doctor that his heart had suffered no permanent damage, she could devote all of her attention to Hank and figuring out just how much he really mattered to her.

Cody wandered in as she was pacing in the living room, awaiting Hank’s arrival.

“Going someplace?” he asked, looking her over, then scowling at the short skirt she’d chosen.

“I have a date.”

“With?”

“Hank.”

His gaze narrowed. “Is that right?”

“Do you disapprove?”

“Of Hank? Of course not. But you might want to consider adding a couple of more inches to that skirt before you walk out the door.”

Lizzy glanced down. “Why? Don’t you think he’ll like it?”

“Oh, he’ll like it. A little too much would be my guess.”

She grinned. “Then I got it just right, I think.”

Her brother studied her worriedly. “Lizzy, what are you up to?”

“Up to?” she repeated innocently. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Oh, yes, you do. You’ve got that sneaky-female look in your eyes.”

Lizzy laughed. “And what would you know about sneaky-female looks?”

“I’m married, aren’t I? Melissa always gets a look just like that in her eyes right before she pulls the rug out from under me. I’ve watched my own daughter use it on every man she’s ever dated, too. Now that Sharon Lynn’s engaged, poor old Kyle Mason spends most of his life looking thoroughly bewildered by her. I actually feel sorry for him.”

Lizzy gave a little nod of satisfaction. “Then I suppose I’ve finally got that right, too.”

Something that might have been panic flared in her brother’s eyes. “Lizzy, I will not have you going out with Hank and doing something you’re going to regret.”

“Regrets are for people who never took any risks,” she retorted.

“Risks?” Cody demanded, his voice escalating. “Just what risks are you intending to take?”

Lizzy heard Hank’s car outside and decided Cody had had about all he could take of her teasing. She reached up and patted his cheek. “Don’t worry about a thing, big brother. I’ve got everything under control.”

Cody moaned.

Lizzy walked out on him before he could get it into his head to try to run Hank off the property. That was not the sort of trouble she’d intended when she’d made this date. No, if there was going to be trouble tonight, it was going to be between her and Hank Robbins.

She could hardly wait.




Chapter Three (#ulink_2d84e11d-ee5f-52de-9a13-706ae714f74c)


When Lizzy got outside, Hank was exiting his pickup. He almost stumbled at his first glimpse of her. His stunned expression was everything she’d hoped for when she’d chosen the skirt of which Cody so vehemently disapproved.

“Too anxious to wait for me to come in and get you?” Hank inquired, giving her a lazy, purely masculine once-over that raised goose bumps.

“Protecting your sorry hide,” she declared, refusing to rise to the taunt “Cody’s into his big-brother mode. If he’d seen you looking me over like that, there’s no telling what he’d do.”

His gaze strayed to the midthigh hem of her skirt “I can imagine. That skirt ought to be banned in most parts of the world.”

“You don’t like it?”

“Oh, I like it,” he conceded. “It just changes my plans for the evening.”

“In what way?”

“I don’t think we’ll be dining out in town, after all.”

Lizzy chuckled. “Suddenly can’t wait to get me alone, huh?” she taunted. She had deliberately—and successfully—provoked one reaction out of him. Now she was working on one far more dangerous.

“Not exactly,” he retorted. “I’m just afraid I’d have to strangle half the men in town for salivating over you. Fortunately, Mrs. Wyndham hasn’t left yet I’ll call her from the truck and tell her to fix something.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lizzy said, thinking the evening couldn’t have looked more promising.

“You haven’t gone and turned into a vegetarian, have you?”

“And have Daddy disown me? I don’t think so.”

“Then I’ll tell Mrs. Wyndham to leave a chicken roasting or defrost a steak or something,” he said, still sounding as if he’d been poleaxed.

Lizzy gave him a knowing look, then turned toward the truck and hesitated as she contemplated the long step up to get inside. It was the one thing she hadn’t considered when she’d chosen her outfit for the evening. Obviously, she’d been living in the city too long, where flashy cars, not practical trucks, were the norm among the men she’d dated.

“An interesting quandary, isn’t it?” Hank in quired, laughter threading through his voice. “Either you ask for help or you scramble up on your own and expose yourself—” he chuckled “—to humiliation.”

“A gentleman wouldn’t need to be asked,” Lizzy declared.

Before the words were out of her mouth, he slipped up behind her. She felt his hands circle her waist and the next thing she knew she had been lifted off her feet and settled snugly into the passenger seat of the 4X4. But Hank wasn’t half as quick to release her as he had been to lift her up. His work-roughened hands slid from her waist to settle briefly on her thighs. Her suddenly all too bare thighs.

Lizzy’s breath caught in her throat, and heat climbed into her cheeks. Her pulse ricocheted wildly as Hank leaned closer and closer still until his lips were almost on hers. She waited impatiently for him to close the distance between them.

The man had impeccable timing. She’d give him that. Just when she thought her heart was going to burst with longing, his mouth settled over hers, soft and gentle and coaxing. It was nothing like their greedy, frantic kiss that morning. This one was all about subtle nuances and pure temptation.

The kiss lasted an eternity, or maybe it only seemed that way because it stole her breath and left her reeling. If she was over the man, his kisses shouldn’t have any potency at all. One should have been pretty much like another.

Instead, they seemed to get more and more devastating. That morning, Lizzy had been thoroughly shaken by the discovery that time hadn’t dimmed the power of Hank’s kiss to rattle her completely. She was even more shaken by this one, in part at least because he had initiated it. It only confirmed the risk she was taking in seeing him tonight Somewhere along the way, he’d gone and changed the rules on her.

First he’d openly flirted with her, and now this kiss. Whatever restraints he’d placed on his actions years ago seemed to be a thing of the past. The turnaround was unexpected and dangerous, but it played nicely into her own plans. For once she wasn’t going to worry about risks or consequences. She was dedicated only to discovering whether old dreams could be turned into reality.

She suspected they both knew where this date was going to end up. Heck, she’d wanted to throw him down on the ground out in that pasture and make love to him right there. Discovering after all this time that he was not nearly as indifferent to her as he’d always pretended had only heightened her desire. At this rate, they’d be lucky if they made it to the end of the very long White Pines driveway before they started ripping each other’s clothes off.

“Hank?”

“Hmm?” he murmured, clearly reluctant to release her.

“Cody’s inside. He’s probably been watching every move we’ve made. My hunch is he’s halfway between the living room and the gun cabinet.”

Hank pulled away and sighed. “I suppose you have a point.”

“Believe me, no one wishes it were otherwise more than I do.”

“Then I suppose I’ll have to be satisfied with the fact that we’re only twenty minutes down the road from my ranch.”

“We could make it in five, if we took the horses, instead of driving the long way around,” Lizzy argued.

He studied her intently. “Surely you can hold the thought a few extra minutes.”

Lizzy refused to admit that she’d been clinging to the same thought for years. “I’m not sure. You might have to remind me.”

“Not a problem,” he said, regarding her with a look every bit as hot as a branding iron. “Not a problem at all.”

* * *

Hank was pretty sure he was in way over his head. One look into Lizzy’s sparkling, expectant eyes, and rational thought fled. He’d always known she wanted him, always forced himself to ignore the blatant desire in her eyes.

Tonight, though, there would be no ignoring the obvious. He had the distinct impression if he tried to exercise a little restraint, Lizzy would take matters into her own hands. Clearly, the woman was out of patience, and he was darned sure out of willpower.

Hank doubted Cody had intended him to seduce Lizzy the first chance he got. He also figured it was none of her big brother’s damned business what they did. Lizzy was twenty-four now and certainly knew her own mind, and this had been a long time coming. Not that Lizzy’s desires would enter into it for Cody—or any other Adams. If their protectiveness kicked in, Hank was done for.

For once, though, Hank was only going to worry about one Adams, the woman seated beside him with her eyes on the road and her hand resting less than subtly at the top of his thigh.

Lizzy’s touch was so intimate, so disturbing that he forgot completely about the call he’d intended to make to his housekeeper. He had to concentrate very hard to keep his eyes on the road or they’d end up in a ditch.

Because of that, they walked into the ranch to find the lights on, but the oven cold and not so much as a whiff of Lizzy’s favorite bread in the air, much less the scent of dinner.

“Damn,” Hank muttered, gazing around in dismay at the tidied room and bare table. “Mrs. Wyndham’s gone.”

“Were you feeling the need for a chaperone?” Lizzy inquired.

“Actually, I was more concerned about the dinner I promised you.”

She stepped up close and slid her hands up his chest “Oh, I think we can improvise. I’ll bet you know your way around a kitchen.”

She might have been talking about cooking, but Hank got the distinct impression that dinner was the last thing on Lizzy’s mind.

Still, he made a valiant attempt to get her to focus. He extricated himself from her clever, wandering hands and aimed for the refrigerator. Maybe a quick blast of chilly air would cool him off sufficiently to keep his wits about him. After all these years of waiting, he didn’t want to hurry things along too much. There was something to be said for anticipation, though he’d thought until now that he’d had his fill of it.

“Hank?”

“Yes?”

“Am I making you nervous?”

“Sweetheart, a tornado makes me nervous. You scare the daylights out of me.”

She seemed surprised and just a little fascinated by that. “I do? Why?”

Hank grinned at her. “Oh, no. I’m not giving you any ammunition to use against me. You’re way too sure of yourself as it is.” He deliberately turned back to study the contents of the refrigerator. “How about baked ham?”

Instead of a response, he felt the glide of a hand up his back. His body jolted at the touch.

“Lizzy.” It came out in a choked voice, part plea, part protest.

“Yes, Hank.”

She sounded amused. Obviously, Lizzy had learned a lot about seduction since she’d been away. Hank wanted to murder the man who’d taught her. He swallowed hard and forced a nice, neutral tone into his voice.

“I asked if you wanted baked ham.”

“I want you.”

Well, hell. The game was pretty much up now, Hank thought desperately. He slowly closed the refrigerator door and turned to face her. “Lizzy...” he began, intending to be rational and very, very careful in what he said next.

She cut him off by slanting her mouth over his and snuggling up so tight that his entire body went on red alert. He locked his fingers around her elbows, intending to push her away, but a moan of pure pleasure escaped instead.

She tasted like mint and felt like satin and fire. Hank’s ability to fight the potent combination pretty much wilted on the spot Years of pent-up hunger rampaged through him. There was a brief moment—no more than an instant—when he could have backed away, but as if she sensed it intuitively, Lizzy chose that precise second to slide her tongue into his mouth, to rock her hips against his already throbbing arousal.

Hank was lost He’d wanted her for so long, dreamed of having her in his arms, in his bed, hot and willing and filled with just this kind of urgency. He broke off the kiss and scooped her into his arms, then headed for the master suite. At the door, he locked gazes with her.

“Are you sure?” he asked, because it was the right and honorable thing to do. Even so, he prayed he already knew her answer, because if she said no now, he was pretty sure his body would shatter into a thousand pieces.

She touched a finger to his lips and smiled. “Stop fretting, cowboy. I’ve been sure forever.”

Hank believed her because he was desperate to. He carried her into the suite and kicked the door closed behind him. Slowly, he lowered her to the king-size bed, then went to pull the drapes across the wall-to-wall glass with its view of the wildflower-bright fields at sunset.

“No,” Lizzy protested. “It’s beautiful. It will be like making love outdoors.” She grinned at him impishly. “Just the way I wanted to earlier today.”

“Making love was on your mind this afternoon?”

“Yep,” she said without the slightest trace of embarrassment. “How about you? Did it cross your mind when you saw me?”

All this straight-out talk about making love was making Hank nervous, but he couldn’t deny the truth. “Oh, yeah, darlin’. It crossed my mind.”

She gave a very feminine nod of satisfaction. “Good.”

Hank sank down beside her. She had always had a tart tongue and willful nature, but he got the distinct impression that the past few years had given her a new level of confidence to go along with that. Add in the discovery of her own sexuality, and she might very well be more than any sane man ought to tangle with.

“Lizzy—” he began, only to be interrupted before he could get the thought out.

“Hank, surely we did not come into your bedroom to chat,” she said, reaching over to fiddle with the buttons on his shirt.

Hank brushed her hands away and tried one more time to focus on having a sensible discussion. “Lizzy, just how experienced are you?”

Her hands, already back at work on his buttons, stilled. She met his gaze evenly. “You want to talk about my track record with men?”

Hank detected a dangerous note in her voice, but he plunged on. “I think we should. Not how many or anything like that That’s none of my business, actually.”

“I’m glad you can see that much at least.”

He swallowed hard. “I was just wondering...have there been any?”

“I’m twenty-four, Hank. What do you think?”

He thought if she’d run across a man she wanted since leaving Los Piños, she wouldn’t have hesitated to sleep with him. The gleam in her eye suggested it would be wise not to suggest that.

“I think,” he said softly, “that a straight answer is called for. Your experience or lack of it makes a difference in where we go from here.”

“Is this one of those technical discussions, then?” she inquired ever so politely. “To determine if delicate, virgin-appropriate behavior is warranted?”

Heat flooded into Hank’s cheeks. “Something like that.”

To his astonishment, a smile suddenly broke across her face and she flung herself into his lap.

“If that isn’t the sweetest, most caring thing anyone has ever done,” she said, peppering kisses across his face. “Next you’re going to want to talk about birth control, aren’t you?”

Hank sighed. “Yes.”

She knelt and straddled his thighs, framing his face with her hands. “Okay, here it is. I have never, ever slept with a man. I am taking birth-control pills. It seemed like the sensible, responsible thing to do. Does that cover everything?”

“Sensible?” He seized on her choice of words. It wasn’t a word he would have associated with the impetuous Lizzy. “Were you anticipating—” he hesitated and chose his words carefully “—something like this?”

“I’m twenty-four,” she reminded him again. “You never know when the right man might come along.”

“I see.”

“Hank?”

“Yes?”

“How much longer is this conversation going to last?”

He heard the thread of impatience in her voice, recognized the flare of fire in her eyes. “Oh, I’d say we’re pretty much at the end of it.”

“And you’re not backing out or anything?”

He pulled her to him. “No, darlin’. Not if my life depended on it.”

He covered her mouth with his and wondered at the way the taste and feel of her made his pulse jump and his blood heat. Surely other women had had the same effect, but at the moment he couldn’t think of a single one who had. Maybe that’s what truly scared the daylights out of him. He knew—had always known—that once a woman like Lizzy got into a man’s blood, she’d be there forever.

Yet mere was no way at all, no way in hell, he could walk away from her now without ever knowing the way her body would come alive at his touch, without tasting for the first time the pebble-hard nipple of her breast, without feeling the slick, moist heat of her surrounding him.

One by one, he stripped away her clothes, allowing himself to feast on the sight of her. He’d seen her in the skimpiest of bikinis, but it wasn’t the same as watching her blouse slowly slither away to reveal a lacy, sexy bra in purest virginal white. It wasn’t at all like watching her shimmy out of that scrap of a skirt to reveal lacy bikini panties in startling, come-hither red.

Sweet heaven, she was perfect, with her full breasts and narrow waist and hips that flared just enough to entice a man to bury himself inside her. Her skin, when he reached for her, was burning hot to his touch, a wonderfully alluring mix of silk and dangerous fire.

But it was the look in her eyes that captivated him. Part saucy wanton, part innocent, it was the look of a woman with no second thoughts and anticipation very much on her mind. She was his for tonight at least, and he would never forget the precious gift she was bestowing on him.

“You are so beautiful,” he said, his voice low and husky. “So very beautiful.”

“Am I?” she asked, sounding surprised.

“As if you didn’t know.”

“Okay, you’re not the first person to say it,” she admitted. “Just the first one who mattered.”

Hank was awed by the implication of that and by the trust she was placing in him. “I’ve always thought you were beautiful,” he told her. “I just wouldn’t allow myself to think about it.”

“I was so afraid you would never look at me as a woman, that I’d always be the pesky kid next door.”

Hank chuckled. “Lizzy, I think you were born grown-up. I never thought of you as a kid—that was the scary part I used to be terrified someone would take advantage of that.”

“But never you,” she said softly.

“No,” he agreed. “Never me.”

“Hank?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I think we’ve waited long enough.”

“Yes, darlin’, I think we most assuredly have,” he agreed as he removed the last of her clothes and set out to teach her everything he knew about making love.

He was slow and patient and dedicated with his caresses, until the fire burning inside her had her writhing beneath him, her body coated with a sheen of perspiration and jolting with his every touch as she strained toward a first-ever climax.

“Not just yet,” he whispered as he knelt above her. “We’re going on this ride together.”

He entered her then, taking care to be sure that the pain was quick and over almost before she knew it.

“Oh!” she protested, then “Oh, my” as he eased deep inside.

Hank couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from her face as emotions raced across it, from anxiousness to anticipation to pure, ecstatic delight. Then when he was sure that her pleasure was at its peak, he allowed his own to build until they both shattered with soul-rocking climaxes, first hers, then his.

Slowly, slowly, their breathing returned to normal. Hank’s heart began to pump at a steadier beat But, he realized, his desire hadn’t waned at all. He knew in that instant that he would never get enough of Lizzy Adams, that the attraction would never wane, only deepen.

Maybe if this night had never happened, eventually he would have found another woman to love, another woman to share his life. Now, though, he knew for fact what he’d always suspected: his life would never be complete without Lizzy in it Just how in hell they were going to accomplish that was something to contemplate another time, without the distraction of having her curled up next to him, her sweet breath feathering across his chest.

“Lizzy?”

“Hmm?” she murmured.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh my, yes.”

He smiled at the disingenuous reply. “Hungry?”

“You mean for food?”

“Yes, for food. It’s getting late, and we missed dinner completely.”

She sat up and stretched, the unselfconscious movement stirring him all over again. He couldn’t seem to drag his gaze away from her body. She looked over at him, noticed his state of arousal and grinned.

“Are you absolutely certain dinner is what you’re hungry for?” she inquired.

“I suppose I could wait a little longer,” he conceded, reaching for her again.

It was an hour later before they finally left his bed and traipsed into the kitchen. He’d insisted Lizzy wear one of his shirts. “Otherwise we never will get dinner.”

“No willpower, huh?” she inquired lightly.

“I think I’ve displayed amazing willpower over the years. Today’s lapse is hardly inexcusable.”

Her expression sobered. “Hank?”

He stilled and gazed into her upturned face. “What, darlin’?”





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