Texas Gold (17 page)

“Marriage is out of the question anyway, so the rules don’t matter. He’s the enemy, Caro. I fell for the enemy.”

 
“You did more than that, honey. You slept with the enemy. And even worse, you liked it. I don’t think I’m the woman for this conversation.”

“You’re my best friend, Carolyn. Of course you’re the person I need to talk to right now. You’re supposed to hold my hand, get me drunk and tell me everything will be okay in the morning.”

Mallory’d certainly done that for Carolyn on a number of occasions. It was her turn, dammit!

“Like I said. I don’t think I’m the woman for this conversation. One, it’s not going to be better tomorrow. Brenton Alexander, despite his millions or maybe because of...I’m undecided, is a fantasy man. Even though he is the enemy.”

When Mallory had called her best friend in the entire world over to share her turmoil, this was not what she’d had in mind.

“He’s a fantasy because of good sex?”

“Don’t knock it, Mal. I’ve been out there, and great sex is nothing to scoff at. But no, that’s not the only reason he’s a fantasy.”

Mallory knew that. If he weren’t so wonderful she wouldn’t have gone and done something totally, completely, one hundred percent lunatic like falling in love with him.

“I don’t want to talk about his good points. I know his good points. You’re supposed to help me remember why I’m supposed to thank he’s a rotten skunk.”

“Hold that thought.” Carolyn jumped from the couch and went to the kitchen. When she returned, she held two bottles of strawberry wine and two coffee cups Mallory had earned for free from the school district.

Sitting on the floor across from Mallory, she unscrewed one bottle top. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well do this right.” She poured the pink liquid into both cups and left the bottle on the coffee table.

Lifting her cup, Mallory wiped away her tears.
 

“Okay. Now, if you’d have waited until I got back from that cruise, I could maybe have helped before things dissolved to this sorry state. But since you had to go have a rip roaring love affair and start it when I was gone, I’m going to have to call upon my not so great listening skills to help come up with the reasons Brenton Alexander is a low down, dirty, rotten, money hungry developer.”

They clinked their cups, said “cheers” and she continued.

“One. If I remember correctly, he tried to bargain for sex. Very bad business.”

Mallory nodded and drank down her first cup of wine. Carolyn was absolutely right. That entire I want you and I’m going to have you scene might have been invigorating, but it was also arrogant and presumptuous.
 

“Two.” Carolyn poured her another cup of wine. “He pretended to be a money grubber when he surprised you with a trip to a benefit dinner and auction where he gave away thousands of dollars leaving you embarrassed and out of sorts for pretending to be something he wasn’t.”

“Not a good reason, Caro. I’m supposed to be reminding myself of why I can’t be in love with him.”

“Did you or did you not feel complete mortification upon learning he was a benefactor?”

“I did not.” She’d felt proud to be with him that night, not at all mortified.

“But the surprise was a dirty trick.”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Carolyn topped off her cup. “And he made you dress up. You hate that.”

“I don’t. I just hate wearing heels.”

“You’re making my job difficult here, Mal.”

“Okay, I hated wearing the heels you convinced me to buy. And the more time I spend with him, the more I’ll have to dress like that.”

But she’d loved the way she looked. Loved the appreciative glances sent her way.

“He’s bringing in too much money to the town. The school renovations weren’t needed. The schools were good enough for us, by God. Shoot, when we were in school, there wasn’t even air conditioning.”

Mallory didn’t even bother answering that comment.
 

“And those supposed restaurants going up outside of townwill tear us up. We like our meals home cooked. And the gorgeous houses, well, who needs them? We don’t want the crowds, we like our one traffic light just fine, and we’re damn glad it’s a blinking red light at that.”

“Okay, okay. So the developments aren’t the end of the world. And he’s right. It’s too late to go back now, and most people in town don’t want to go back. But the town will change. We’ll have to lock our doors.”

Carolyn nodded and opened the second bottle of wine. “But that won’t be the end of the world.”

Mallory agreed even though she didn’t want to.

“Let’s see. The man is an incredible lover and wonderful father. He agrees to run with you, even, God help us, likes it. He takes you places in limousines, lives in a mansion, drives American cars. I think I counted twelve messages from him on your phone. Why am I trying to help you remember the reasons not to fall in love?”

The second bottle of wine gone, Mallory listened to her friend. Caro was right. Most people would see Brenton and know he was a wonderful, remarkable man. What Carolyn called a catch of the day, maybe a catch of the century.

And she hadn’t even told Carolyn about how Brenton swore he’d taken himself out of her father’s contract negotiations. Maybe she and Brenton could make things work. Her wine fuzzed brain certainly couldn’t come up with any more objections.

When her doorbell rang, she knew who was there. And judging by the way Carolyn sprang from the floor she did too.
 

Gathering the coffee cups and empty bottles, Carolyn, the hopeless romantic, sighed. “I tried to tell you I wasn’t the girl for this talk, Mal. Hopefully you won’t hate me later.”

Mallory listened to Brenton knock at her unlocked door again. “I’m not going to hate you. Maybe you’re right. I just don’t know.”

She stood as Carolyn threw the bottles in the trash with a loud thud.

“I’m thinking you just might find out.”

Carolyn said the words as Mallory opened the front door.

Brenton stood on the other side, his shirt strangely disheveled, his perfect hair out of place, his eyes worried.

Her heart kicked into double time.

But Carolyn beat her to the screen, opening it and ushering Brenton in with a little wave. “Good to see you, Mr. Tycoon. Don’t blow this.”

As Brenton watched Carolyn leave, he barely registered Mallory’s friend’s words. So he had her blessing? It didn’t matter if he couldn’t erase the sadness he saw in Mallory’s eyes.

“I don’t have to stay, but you didn’t answer my calls, and I didn’t want to leave things the way they were when you left the site today.”

“Where do you want things to be, Brenton? I’m tired of feeling torn. Every minute I’m with you, everything seems to fall into place. And then when we’re apart, I feel like I’ve turned traitor on my hometown, not to mention my family.”

As she said the words, Brenton looked away. If she saw his eyes, he had no chance. Somehow he would convince her he wasn’t responsible. “We’ve talked about this already, and at the time, you said you could live with the growth as long as it didn’t hurt Serendipity. And I promised to stay out of the school board business.”

Her chin lifted in a mini declaration of war, but her words spoke surrender. “I know, and I think I can at least try making a relationship with you, but I need some boundaries. What exactly are we doing here?”

For reasons he didn’t want to contemplate, her acquiescence left him feeling less than victorious. He told himself it didn’t matter. This chance was all he needed.

“We’ve talked about that, and I thought we agreed to see where it takes us.”

Her hands clasped around her waist, she stood away from him. A car passed as he waited for her answer.

“We did. But I’m not sure that’s enough. What if it takes us someplace we don’t want to go?”

“What do you want me to say, Mallory? I can’t predict the future...” He ignored the voice yelling in his mind as it said he could at least predict one thing and it would destroy her. “Do you want me to say I’ll walk away from here because I’m afraid we might end up hurting each other? I won’t do it. If anyone walks away from whatever we have because of fear, it’ll have to be you.”

The thought that walking away would be a direct result of fear got under her skin. He could tell in the way her eyes narrowed, the way her eyebrow lifted in challenge. God, this woman was so obviously his perfect partner.
 

“I’m not walking away. If I were, you wouldn’t be standing in my house.”

“True enough.”

“What about Nina?” Mallory voiced the question with obvious earnestness. “I don’t want her messed up over this either. You just think our relationship has been gossip fodder up to this point. If we go on like we have been, everyone will watch her. Half the town will figure she’s a starter on the team because of us.”

Her concern for his daughter touched him, and he wanted to gather her in his arms and show her how much. But she still stood away from him, back straight, negotiating pose.

And he knew better than to push now.

“If anyone doubts Nina’s softball ability, they can look at her record. As for our relationship hurting her, well, forget it. Nina’s thrilled we’ve been seeing each other.”

Her arms fell to her sides and he moved toward her. He wanted so much to pull her into his arms and tell her it would all work out. That no matter what happened next, he’d spend the rest of his life proving how much he loved her.

Loved her.

The words echoed in his mind.
 

He’d fallen in love with irresistible Coach Baber. No sense denying it, and no sense trying to tell himself he was surprised.
 

He could only hope she felt the same way.

And there was no time like the present to find out.

Mallory watched him watching her and wished he’d take the initiative, grab her in his arms and kiss her senseless. She wanted that more than anything, and damn it all, it seemed like he wanted that, too.

But he just stood there watching her, waiting.

He was right about Nina. Right about everything really. She was afraid. That was it, pure and simple.

She was afraid of loving him.

“I’ll be real honest, Mallory.” Brenton looked so somber as he said the words she almost asked him to stop right there. She’d made her decision, and she didn’t want him ruining everything.

But she didn’t ask him to stop. Instead she watched as he moved a step closer to her, taking care not to crowd her but tightening the space between them as he spoke.

“I’ve never met a woman like you. I’ve never had as much fun with anyone, never laughed so much. I’ve never seen anyone care as much as you do about anything.”

She listened as he spoke and hoped her mouth wasn’t hanging open in shock.
 

“I can only hope that one day you’ll care as much about me as you do about this town, the people who live here and your family. I love you. Now if you’re afraid of hearing that, I understand, but I’m not going to pretend it’s not true. I’m crazy about you.”

Mallory wasn’t sure what to say, but she knew exactly what to do.

Grabbing his arm, she pulled him to her and lifted her lips to his.

When the kiss finally ended, she couldn’t help the smile that broke across her face. “I truly am a foolish girl.”

He brushed her hair away from her face. “You truly are.”
 

“Hey,” she punched his arm playfully as his lips slid across her hair line and she sighed. To think this man loved her.

He sat on her couch in the same place she’d been so recently crying and pulled her into his lap.

She rested her head on his chest, reveling in the complete security she felt.

Waiting for the perfect moment.

“I love you, too. I can’t believe I almost walked away.”

He rested his chin on her head and she laughed as he agreed. “Me either.”

She practically purred. The idea of an endless time of feeling the passion they shared or the laughter or even the aggravation left her practically giddy.

Another night in his arms would only serve to make this evening even more fantastic, more wonderful.

She tilted her head up, kissed his lips and then asked, “So you are staying, right?”

His disheveled shirt looked even worse now. She smoothed his hair. She’d never felt so possessive in her life.

“Is that a question or a command?”

His lips brushed her cheek and she shivered in anticipation.

“You take it however you want, Mr. Alexander. As long as your answer is yes.”

He laughed. “What’d you have in mind?”

She pulled away from him and stood slowly removing first her shirt and then her shorts.

When she stood before him in nothing but a mint green bra and matching panties she wiggled her fingers. “Why don’t you come on over and find out what exactly I have in mind.”

Standing, he pulled her to him and flicked open the front clasp of her bra. “While we’re at it, why don’t I share a little of what I’ve been thinking.”

She leaned closer, rubbing her now bare breasts against his chest. “Let’s just put our minds together. Maybe it’ll be a long night.”

 
“It’s a good thing I love you because you are definitely a woman after my heart.”

“I’m after a hell of a lot more than your heart.”

As she said the words, Mallory knew they were true. She had his heart. Now she wanted forever.

Chapter Twelve

When the alarm screamed the morning wake up, Mallory seriously considered the responsible reaction. Hit the off button, jump up, throw on running clothes and drag Brenton on yet another trek through town. Maybe she’d even take him to the dam on the lake.

But then Brenton’s hand clasped her bare breast and she decided he was right, there were better ways to exercise than running.

Which explained why she was looking at green LED numbers on her clock that read ten thirty instead of five thirty.

It explained why Brenton was gone but a note that said I love you was propped up on his pillow.

And it explained why she felt absolutely, positively divine.