Texas Wild (4 page)

Since he didn’t want her to accompany him, she would do a
little investigating on her own.

Three

T
he next morning Rico was still
furious.

Now he knew what Ramsey’s warning had been about. The little
minx was going to Texas, pretty damn close to where he would be. He would have
confronted her last night, but he’d been too upset to do so. Now here he was—at
breakfast time—and instead of joining Zane, Riley, Canyon and Stern at one of
the local cafés that boasted hotcakes to die for, he was parked outside Megan’s
home so he could try and talk some sense into her.

Did she not know what red-hot desire was about? Did she not
understand how it was when a man really wanted a woman to the point where
self-control took a backseat to longing and urges? Did she not comprehend there
was temptation even when she tried acting cool and indifferent?

Just being around her last night had been hard enough, and now
she was placing herself in a position where they would be around each other in
Texas without any family members as buffers. Oh, he knew the story she was
telling her family, that she would be visiting Clint in Austin. Chances were,
she would—for a minute. He was friends with Clint and Alyssa and had planned to
visit them as well, during the same time she planned to be there. Since Forbes
wasn’t that far from Austin, Clint had offered Rico the use of one of their
cabins on the Golden Glade Ranch as his headquarters, if needed.

But now Megan had interfered with his plans. She couldn’t
convince Rico that she didn’t have ulterior motives and that she didn’t intend
to show up in Forbes. She intended to do some snooping, with or without him. So
what the hell was she paying him for if she was going to do things her way? He
got out of the car and glanced around, seeing her SUV parked at the side of her
house. She had a real nice spread, and she’d kept most of it in its natural
state. In the background, you could see rolling hills and meadows, mountains and
the Whisper Creek Canyon. It was a beautiful view. And there was a lake named
after her grandmother Gemma. Gemma Lake was huge and, according to Riley, the
fish were biting all the time. If Megan hadn’t been throwing him for a loop,
Rico would have loved to find a fishing pole while he was here to see if the
man’s claim was true.

Megan’s home was smaller than those owned by her brothers and
male cousins. Their homes were two or three stories, but hers was a single
story, modest in size, but eye-catching just the same. It reminded him of a
vacation cabin with its cedar frame, wraparound porch and oversize windows. It
had been built in the perfect location to take advantage of both lake and
canyon.

He’d heard the story of how the main house and the three
hundred acres on which it sat had been willed to Dillon, since he was the oldest
cousin. The remaining Denver Westmorelands got a hundred acres each once they
reached their twenty-fifth birthdays. They had come up with pet names for their
particular spreads. There was Ramsey’s Web, Derringer’s Dungeon, Zane’s Hideout
and Gemma’s Gem. Now, he was here at Megan’s Meadows.

According to Riley, Megan’s property was prime land, perfect
for grazing. She had agreed to let a portion of her land be used by Ramsey for
the raising of his sheep, and the other by Zane and Derringer for their horse
training business.

If Riley suspected anything because of all the questions Rico
had asked last night about Megan, he didn’t let on. And it could have been that
the man was too preoccupied to notice, since Riley had his little black book in
front of him, checking off the numbers of women he intended to call.

It was early, and Rico wondered if Megan was up yet. He would
find out soon enough. Regardless, he intended to have his say. She could pretend
she hadn’t recognized the strong attraction between them, that sexual chemistry
that kept him awake at night, but he wasn’t buying it. However, just in case she
didn’t have a clue, he intended to tell her. Again. There was no need for her to
go to Texas, and to pretend she was going just to visit relatives was a
crock.

The weather was cold. Tightening his leather jacket around him,
he moved quickly, walking up onto the porch. Knocking on the door loudly, he
waited a minute and then knocked again. When there was no answer, he was about
to turn around, thinking that perhaps she’d gone up to the main house for
breakfast, when suddenly the door was snatched open. His jaw almost dropped. The
only thing he could say when he saw her, standing there wearing the cutest
baby-doll gown, was
wow
.

* * *

Megan stared at Rico, surprised to see him. “What are
you doing here?”

He leaned in the doorway. “I came to talk to you. And what are
you doing coming to the door without first asking who it is?”

She rolled her eyes. “I thought you were one of my brothers.
Usually they are the only ones who drop by without notice.”

“Is that why you came to the door dressed like that?”

“Yes, what do you want to talk to me about? You’re letting cold
air in.”

“Your trip to Texas.”

Megan stared at him, her lips tight. “Fine,” she said, taking a
step back. “Come in and excuse me while I grab my robe.”

He watched her walk away, thinking the woman looked pretty damn
good in a nightgown. Her shapely backside filled it out quite nicely and showed
what a gorgeous pair of legs she had.

Thinking that the last thing he needed to be thinking about was
her legs, he removed his jacket and placed it on the coatrack by the door before
moving into the living room. He glanced around. Her house was nice and cozy.
Rustic. Quaint. The interior walls, as well as the ceiling and floors, were
cedar like the outside. The furniture was nice, appropriate for the setting and
comfortable-looking. From where he stood, he could see an eat-in kitchen
surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows where you could dine and enjoy a view of
the mountains and lake. He could even see the pier at her brother Micah’s place
that led to the lake and where the sailboat docked.

“Before we start talking about anything, I need my coffee.”

Rico turned when she came back into the room, moving past him
and heading toward the kitchen. He nodded, understanding. For him, it was
basically the same, which was why he had drunk two cups already. “Fine. Take
your time,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere because I know what you’re
doing.”

She didn’t respond until she had the coffeemaker going. Then
she turned and leaned back against a counter to ask, “And just what am I
doing?”

“You’re going to Texas for a reason.”

“Yes, and I explained why. I need a break from work.”

“Why Texas?”

She lifted her chin. “Why not Texas? It’s a great state, and I
haven’t been there in a while. I missed that ball Clint, Cole and Casey do every
year for their uncle. It will be good to see them, especially since Alyssa is
expecting again.”

“But that’s not why you’re going to Texas and you know it,
Megan. Can you look me in the eyes and say you don’t plan to set one foot in
Forbes?”

She tilted her head to look at him. “No. I can’t say that
because I do.”

“Why?”

Megan wondered how she could get him to understand. “Why not?
These are my relatives.”

“You are paying me to handle this investigation,” he
countered.

She tried not to notice how he filled the entrance to her
kitchen. It suddenly looked small, as if there was barely any space. “Yes, and I
asked to go to Forbes with you. It’s important for me to be there when you find
out if I have more relatives, but you have this stupid rule about working
alone.”

“Dammit, Megan, when you hired me you never told me you would
get involved.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I hadn’t planned on
getting involved. However, knowing I might have more kin out there changes
everything. Why can’t you understand that?”

Rico ran a frustrated hand down his face. In a way, he did. He
would never forget that summer day when his mother had brought a
fifteen-year-old girl into their home and introduced her as Jessica—their
sister. Savannah had been sixteen, and he had been nineteen, a sophomore in
college. It hadn’t mattered to him that he hadn’t known about Jessica before
that time. Just the announcement that he had another sister had kicked his
brotherly instincts into gear.

“I do understand, Megan,” he said in a calm voice. “But still,
there are things that I need to handle. Things I need to check out before anyone
else can become involved.”

She lifted a brow. “Things like what?”

Rico drew in a deep breath. Maybe he should have leveled with
her yesterday, but there were things that had come up in his report on Raphel
that he needed to confirm were fact or fiction. So far, everything negative
about Raphel had turned out not to be true in Dillon’s investigation. Rico
wanted his final report to be as factual as possible, and he needed to do more
research of the town’s records.

She poured a cup of coffee for herself and one for him, as
well. “What’s wrong, Rico? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

He saw the worry in her eyes as he accepted his coffee. “Look,
this is my investigation. I told you that I was able to track down information
on Clarice and the fact that she might have given birth to a child. That’s all I
know for now, Megan. Anything else is hearsay.”

“Hearsay like what?”

“I’d rather not say.”

After taking a sip of coffee, she said, “You’re being
evasive.

He narrowed his gaze. “I’m being thorough. If you want to go to
Texas to visit Clint and Alyssa, then fine. But what I
don’t
need is you turning up where you don’t need to be.”

“Where I don’t need to be?” she growled.

“Yes. I have a job to do, and I won’t be able to do it with you
close by. I won’t be able to concentrate.”

“Men!” Megan said, stiffening her spine. “Do you all think it’s
all about you? I have brothers and male cousins, plenty of them. I know how you
operate. You want one woman one day and another woman the next. Get over it
already. Please.”

Rico just stared at her. “And you think it’s that simple?”

“
Yesss
. I’m Zane and Derringer’s
sister, Riley, Canyon and Stern’s cousin. I see them. I watch them. I know their
M.O. Derringer has been taken out of the mix by marrying Lucia, thank goodness.
But the rest of them, and now the twins…oh, my God…are following in their
footsteps.

“You see. You want. You do. But not me.
You,
Rico Claiborne, assume just because you want me that you’re
going to get me. What was your warning? If we go somewhere together alone, that
you’re going to
have
me. Who are you supposed to be?
Don’t I have a say-so in this matter? What if I told you that I
don’t
want you?”

Rico just stared at her. “Then I would say you’re lying to
yourself. You want me. You might not realize it, but you want me. I see it every
time you look at me. Damn, Megan, admit there’s a strong attraction between
us.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I find you attractive. But I find a
lot of men attractive. No big deal.”

“And are you sending out the same vibes to them that you’re
sending to me?” he asked in a deep, husky voice.

Megan recalled that Pam had said something about vibes. Was she
sending them out to him without realizing she was doing so? No, she couldn’t be.
Because right now she wasn’t feeling desire for him, she was feeling anger at
him for standing there and making such an outlandish claim.

But still, she would have to admit that her heart was pounding
furiously in her chest, and parts of her were quivering inside. So, could he be
right about those vibes? Naw, she refused to believe it. Like she’d told him,
she’d seen men in operation. Zane probably had a long list of women he wanted
who he imagined were sending out vibes.

From the first, Rico had come across as a man who knew how to
control any given situation, which was why she figured he was the perfect person
for the job she’d hired him to do. So what was his problem now? If he did want
her, then surely the man could control his urges.

“Look, I assure you, I can handle myself, and I can handle you,
Rico,” she said, “All of my senses are intact, and you can be certain lust won’t
make me lose control. And nothing you or any man can say or do will place me in
a position where I will lose my self-control.” The men who thought so didn’t
call her “Iceberg Megan” for nothing.

“You don’t think so?” Rico challenged her. “You aren’t made of
stone. You have feelings. I can tell that you’re a very passionate woman, so
consider your words carefully.”

She chuckled as if what he’d said was a joke. “Passionate?
Me?”

“Yes, you. When I first looked at you at the wedding reception
and our gazes connected, the air between us was bristling with so much sexual
energy I’m sure others felt it,” he said silkily. “Are you going to stand there
and claim you didn’t feel it?”

Megan gazed down into her coffee and erased her smile. Oh, she
remembered that day. Yes, she’d felt it. It had been like a surge of sexual,
electrical currents that had consumed the space between them. It had happened
again, too, every time she saw him looking at her. Until now, she’d assumed she
had imagined it, but his words confirmed he had felt the connection, as
well.

After that night at the wedding, she’d gone to bed thinking
about him and had thought of him several nights after that. What she’d felt had
bothered her, and she had talked to Gemma about it. Some of the things her
married sister had shared with her she hadn’t wanted to hear, mainly because
Megan was a firm believer in self-control. Everybody had it, and everybody could
manage it. Regardless of how attracted she was to Rico, she had self-control
down pat. Hers was unshakable.

She’d had to learn self-control from the day she was told she
would never see her parents again. She would never forget how Dillon and Ramsey
had sat her down at the age of twelve and told her that not only her parents,
but also her aunt and uncle, whom she’d adored, had been killed in a plane
crash.