SNOWFIRES (11 page)

Trent entered the room with his own cell
phone in his hand and a disgusted look on his face. "How come we
can send men to the moon, man a space station, and then let a
blizzard disrupt phone service?"

“
Better ask someone who understands
science more than I do.” She picked up the skillet. "You want
breakfast first or check on cattle first?"

"Why don't you fix breakfast while Blue and I
check the generator and the well house? I’d better take a look at
the gauge on the propane tank, too. We'll do the barn after
breakfast."

Happy to postpone the icy inevitable, Holly
started preparations for the morning meal. When Trent returned, she
took a pan of biscuits from the oven.

He stamped the snow from his feet and took
off his gloves, cap and jacket. Blue headed for the blanket under
the table. Trent poured himself coffee. When he saw Holly dump the
contents of the pan into a basket, he stared.

"If I hadn't seen it, I would never have
believed it possible. Are those actually homemade biscuits?"

She shot him a look full of surprise. "Did
you think I rushed down to the corner store while you were
out?"

He made fast work of washing his hands at the
sink. "Those look as good as the ones your grandmother made."

She carried the basket to the table. "Exactly
the same. Grandmother didn't make them, I did. I help out when I
stay with my grandparents."

"Amazing!" He sat down, cup in hand and dug
into his food with zeal. “What will I find out about you next?” He
sent her a rakish grin and raised his eyebrow.

How could she guard herself against this man?
It was all she could do not to cross her fingers at him as if
warding off a curse.

She wanted him again. A picture of sex on the
table leaped into her mind and she fought it. He picked up the
honey and applied it to a biscuit. What would it be like to have
him spread it on her breasts and lick it off? Her tongue flicked
across lips gone dry at the vision.

He watched her as he ate and his green eyes
twinkled, almost as if he read her mind. When honey threatened to
drip from the biscuit, his gaze focused on her as his tongue darted
to catch the sweet drop. She looked down at her plate to break the
enticing images running through her overactive brain.

Get a grip! Eggs, bacon, biscuits. Nothing
erotic about those. Concentrate on food instead of the man across
the table. Otherwise, she’d probably jump his bones here and now.
Darn him, he’d cast a spell on her. How could she break it?

CHAPTER EIGHT

After
breakfast, Trent helped with the dishes. Holly appeared not
only to tolerate simple things, but obviously enjoyed them, and
that still surprised him. He knew her life had not been the easy
street he at first thought, not with that crook Walter Tucker for a
father.

He bundled up and set off for the barn with
her trailing him. They stopped in the yard and looked around them.
A sheet of ice still coated everything.

“
It’s gorgeous.” She touched an icicle
on the cable to the barn.

He inhaled deeply. “Change in the air.”
Though the temperature still rode below freezing, the dying winds
now carried a different smell.

“
I’ll lead the way this time.” She
stepped in front of him. They headed for the barn with him watching
her back.

His groin grew hard when memories appeared of
her abandoned passion of the previous night. She definitely was not
the ice princess he’d thought. No matter how regal she appeared at
the office or even wading through snow, she became an uninhibited
tigress in his arms.

Well, sometimes the tigress also became a
cuddly kitten, but certainly not the frosty woman he thought her at
first. He’d learned she had no love interest and hadn't for a long
time. Not that he pried exactly, but he coaxed, listened, and
waited for answers around the plant.

He’d never heard one word against Holly,
except a few disgruntled swains who called her the "Snow Queen" or
"Ice Princess." No doubt they considered her cold because she had
turned down their advances. They would never hear differently from
him, but Trent knew that Holly Ann Tucker was anything but frigid.
She was one hot babe. He smiled to himself at the thought, then
sobered.

How did Holly view their time between the
sheets? Surely he could not be mistaken about her inexperience nor
the thought that her yielding to him brought more than just her
body. Did a woman of her sophistication separate sex and love?

The thought shocked him and he stumbled
but caught himself. Love? Not a word he spoke lightly. In fact, not
a word he’d
ever
used. He
guessed she wasn’t one to toss it around casually
either.

She glanced over her shoulder. “You’re the
one who told me to be careful.”

“
Yeah, yeah.” Okay, he had to reel in
his emotions. He realized he was definitely infatuated, more than
merely intrigued with Holly. The feeling went too deep, consumed
him with a fiery need too hot to quench with a few nights of
passion. But that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted to spend the
next sixty or seventy years with the woman, did it?

He shoved open the barn doors and they went
inside. He set to caring for the cattle while she went to the
chicken feed. It was as if they’d done this every day for ages.

He mixed cattle feed and lost himself in
thought. Even his past few years of infrequent and carefully
selected lovers had left him with enough encounters to know his
experience with Holly eclipsed all others. What must she think of
him? For some mysterious reason, she’d hated him before
yesterday.

After last night, a giant change had occurred
in their relationship. It wasn't just the great sex, either. And
man, the sex had blown his socks off. The way she handled herself
at first left no doubt of her inexperience, but what a fast learner
she turned out to be.

The change in her between and after the
countless times they had sex astounded him. She had snuggled
against him, exchanged confidences as if they were truly one, and
seemed loathe to stop talking even when sleep claimed their
exhausted bodies. In short, Holly now seemed to accept him with at
least a fondness and easy companionship.

Could it be that she was at least a little
infatuated with him? Imagine that? Trent Macleod, the orphaned
sailor with no degree but hard knocks, linked to a classy woman
like Holly Tucker? It boggled his mind. Still, he’d watched this
sort of thing in others too often. Passion flared, then cooled, and
the couple parted. That had to be it. Sure, he was the only boat in
port. Soon he'd have his fill of her and she of him.

Who did he think he was he kidding? She might
tire of him, but he was pretty sure he’d never get his fill of
her.

He knew a guy like him didn’t deserve a woman
like Holly. What could he offer a treasure like her? So, if things
were as bad as he feared and his craving for Holly wasn’t just
lust, but something deeper, and if her attraction developed for
him, and if this Marvel deal worked out, he could ask her to be
his.

A hell of a lot of ifs, Macleod.

Once again he prayed that his finances were
solvent, the meeting postponed to be followed by success.
Otherwise, he not only had nothing, Holly’s own finances and those
of her family plus the jobs of their employees were in
jeopardy.

He pitched hay and remembered what people
told him about when he first arrived in Dallas. "I heard that if
you don't like Texas weather, wait three days and it’ll
change."

She laughed and went into the chickens’ pen.
“True. The ice will start melting later today, but it’ll only
refreeze tonight.”

“
So, tomorrow we should be able to get
away from this lovely ranch vacation, huh?” To what would he
return? Worry’s knife sliced through his gut.

“
Yes, at least by ten or eleven after
the sun melts the ice. And won’t we be sorry to see the last of
this barn?”

When Trent first became aware of Marvel, he’d
found a stagnant company, drained of its life and resources by
Walter Tucker and his voracious excesses that flirted with fraud.
Flirted? There was no other word for it but embezzlement. Trent
planned to revitalize the company with immediate action. He knew
only dramatic measures would save the firm and the jobs of those
who worked there.

He’d learned of Marvel from Grayson. How Joe
Bob Grayson knew of Trent, he had yet to discover. When Grayson
approached him, cautious excitement flooded Trent as his mind
exploded with possibilities. If not Grayson’s support, though, he
wouldn’t have attempted the purchase of a company whose operation
was unfamiliar and cash reserves diminished.

"Hey, Macleod." Holly nudged him with her egg
basket. "Are you going to admire the scenery until we both
freeze?"

He took the wire basket from her and his
other arm crushed her to him in a bearish embrace. "This should
warm you up." His lips claimed hers, firm at first then gentling to
explore her mouth. She molded against him and her arms slid under
his jacket.

When he broke the embrace, she stared up at
him. The cold air put a flush in her cheeks, but he took credit for
the hunger-glazed look in her luminous blue eyes. Lips the color of
crushed roses, slightly parted with her warm breath forming frost
in the air, tempted him.

An unprecedented burst of optimism hit him.
How could he fail this woman? He became a knight of old battling
the fiery dragon of commerce for his fair ladylove. Or, maybe the
pirate of his reputation slashing away at the chains pulling down
the sinking ship, Marvel.

He swooped up the container of eggs and
pulled Holly with him toward the house. The icy ground invited
caution where he welcomed reckless abandon. With a few near misses,
they reached the kitchen without falling.

Blue pushed by them and plopped onto his
blanket. Trent set the eggs on the counter and whirled Holly into
his arms. She laughed up at him before he lowered his mouth to
hers.

The ringing of his cell phone interrupted the
kiss. After so long a silence, the sound startled them apart.

Holly rushed to where she’d left her own
phone, flipped it on, and dialed her home. The answering machine
picked up so she left a brief message and disconnected. Before she
could punch the auto-dial for her grandparents, she glanced up. The
look on Trent’s face froze her in place.

“
Trent? What is it? Is the meeting
rescheduled?”

He closed the phone and slid it into his
pocket. Without answering he headed for the back door.

She rushed to head him off. “Trent? Please
answer me.”

He paused and she saw his shoulders heave
with a great breath. Slowly, he turned. The animated excitement of
a few minutes ago had changed to a pale stone mask.

“
That was Gordon. The Amberfield team
came. Gordon took them on a tour and gave them our pitch, but they
were pissed that I wasn’t there.”

“
Surely they understood that you can’t
control the weather. And Gordon’s the Executive VP, so they
shouldn’t feel slighted, for heaven’s sakes.” What was wrong with
her? For a moment she’d forgotten she didn’t want these people to
accept Trent’s offer.

“
They wouldn’t commit, dammit. They’re
a conservative old New England firm. My having no track record in
the industry is part of the reason they’ve dragged their feet on
this. I’ll have to woo them back.” He struck the doorframe with his
fist. “I should never have gone to Joe Bob’s in the first place.
Then none of this would have happened.”

His statement stung like a slap to her face
and she fought the tears welling in her eyes. “No, none of it.”
They’d never have made love, never have shared intimacies, probably
never have done more than exchange stiffly polite greetings at
work.

He reached for her. “Hey, I didn’t mean I
regretted what went on between us here, Princess.”

Pain stabbed her chest and punched a hole in
her gut. She stepped back, unable to express her grief.

He shrugged. “What the hell, I can’t win. I’m
going to check on the well.”

Holly sat at the kitchen table. She shook,
not with the cold, but with emotional turmoil engulfing her. None
of this would have happened, he’d said. No matter how he denied it,
she knew he regretted being here with her. She’d seen his face and
heard the cold, flat tone of his voice.

But they’d made love. Correction—he’d
had sex, and she’d made love. And here she was falling
in
love with him. A man who cared
only for business and whom she’d have to meet almost daily at work.
Thank heavens she hadn’t blurted out her need for him. Did she love
him? Surely not. Lust. That’s what she felt. Strong
lust.

How could she face him in meetings after
she’d all but thrown herself at him? How could she put their time
at this place behind her? How could she stay at Marvel and face
him? How could she do otherwise?

What was she going to do?

***

Trent stopped inside the door and stamped his
feet. “Ice is definitely melting where the sun shines and softening
in the shade. Maybe we can leave by morning.” He didn’t meet her
gaze but passed behind her to pour a cup of coffee.

“
It’ll freeze again tonight, by ten
when the sun’s up good we’ll probably be able to leave.” She
pretended nothing was wrong.

His cell phone rang again and he turned away.
“Macleod. Yeah, Gordon. I’m stuck here today but should be back by
tomorrow night. I’ll be in the office early Thursday. Yeah, try to
set up another meeting. Okay.” He faced her as he dropped the phone
into his pocket. “I haven’t told him you’re with me, Holly. If you
want to tell, that’s fine, but you know how people are. I didn’t
want gossip about you making the rounds.”