Wanted: Fairy Godmother (14 page)

“You’re back early,” she said, though barely moving her lips.

“Yeah,” he agreed, his voice husky. This time, his perusal of her could not be called gentlemanly or quick. This time, he looked his fill, stopping leisurely to appreciate every delicious inch of her delectable body. An electric current sizzled along his nerves and his groin tightened, growing heavy with his need. “You’re beautiful.” The words popped out of his mouth without thought.

Somehow he’d broken the spell; she looked around frantically for cover.

“Here,” he said, dropping the firewood in the nearby bin, and then tossing her the saddlebags. “Maybe you’ll find something in these.”

She caught them deftly, and then grasped it to the front of her like a lifeline. It hardly covered her at all. “Ah…when Mrs. Hudson went down a checklist with the boys, they didn’t pack extra stuff like jeans.”

Suspicion gnawed at him. Bernie and Gus weren’t the only ones involved in this charade. “Oh, really?” Jake shut the door with a loud, ominous click. “And, can you tell me why is that?” With each measured step, he moved toward her like a bull ready to stampede, slow and calculating.

Panic sliced across her expression. She backed up a few inches, obviously sensing his mistrust and growing anger. “I…I guess they forgot?” It came out more of a question than a statement.

“Try again.” He halted a foot from her, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

“Ja…Jake, I know it looks bad, but really…”

“Spit it out, Callie.”

She licked her lips, causing a bolt of desire to sting every nerve ending in his entire body.

“I’m waiting,” he choked out, trying to squelch the ricocheting emotions tingling through him.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” she said in a huff, dropping the saddlebags to the floor. They hit with a heavy thud. Pressing a finger into his chest above his crossed arms, she continued, “I really did forget to check them, Jake. By the time I found out, I was on top of Chessie. It was too late. Bernie said you were practically dying. Between him, Gus, and the guys, they convinced me I was the only one you’d let near to nurse you. I was so worried about you that the last thing I thought about was myself, all right? Your cousins were nice enough to pack my saddlebags with medicine for you.” Jabbing him several times to emphasize her explanation, Callie’s cheeks grew pink and mutiny shone in her eyes.

Pleasure pooled in his center.
She cared.
He smiled at her feistiness. Snatching that painfully poking finger, he held it away from his mistreated chest. “Did it ever occur to you they arranged all this?”

She raised her eyebrows, and dawning colored her expression. “They wouldn’t!”

He spread his arms out, still holding onto her small, soft hand. “Look. I’m alive and well. Almost disgustingly so, Ms. Callie Andrews. Bernie grumbled about that this morning before he left since he’d caught cold while helping me mend the fence lines yesterday.”

Closing her eyes, she screwed up her face as if she was in pain. Opening one eye, she pulled her hand free and held up her thumb and forefinger only a scant inch apart, asking hesitantly, “Are you sure you don’t have a teensy-weensy headache?”

“Nope, not even a dull ache.” Warmth stole into his heart as she dropped her hand to her side, her shoulders slumped, and she looked at the floor.

“I’m sorry. I should have known something was up.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” He pressed his finger under her chin, raising her face. The self-recriminations lining her features nearly had him scooping her up in his arms and kissing her until they both gasped for air. He reined in his passion. “I guess I should have seen something like this coming. My cousins, Gus, Les, and too many more to name have been hinting, none too subtly either, they wouldn’t mind if we got together.”

“Oh, really? And what did you tell them?” Her hopeful look trapped the breath in his lungs.

“Callie, honey,” he said in a husky whisper, reluctant to tell her how he’d answered the pesky people in his life. “I’m not the settling down kind of man you’re looking for.”
Telling her might just reduce my chances of making love to her,
he thought. But he’d be damned if he used tricks and lies to get her in his bed.

She jerked back as if a bucket of ice water doused her, breaking the thread of contact with him. He dropped his hand.

“You evaded my question.”

A sinking sensation flooded his gut. “I told them to go to hell.”

She turned her back on him, saying brightly, too brightly for his taste, “Well, that settles that, doesn’t it?”

The underlying pain in her voice was unmistakable. His heart clenched in regret. He never wanted to hurt her. Reaching out with his hand, Jake hesitated, hovering near her bare shoulder. Reluctantly, he pulled back. He’d only make this blinding attraction worse if he touched her delectable flesh. His mouth watered just at the mere thought.

She shrugged, saying, “I guess you’ll be booting me out at the first sign of light. Until then, we’ll just make the best of living in such cramped quarters.” Twirling around, she put her hands on her hips, challenging him and drawing his gaze to her creamy white skin and enticing curves.

His body reacted as if he’d run smack dab into an electric fence. The jolt of lust zapped him, making his blood boil. “Ah hell!” He strode quickly to the tiny cubicle bathroom. Yanking out two clean, dry shirts from the peg on the back of the door, he tossed one to her. She caught it easily.

Callie tugged the well-worn denim material around her shoulders, poking her arms through the appropriate holes, and then buttoning it with trembling fingers. A hint of his musky scent wafted from the folds, teasing her.

A bittersweet ache swamped her senses. Jake’s body touched the same fabric. Her mind conjured up erotic pictures and her body responded as if it were his hands, not his shirt, that caressed her bare flesh.

She followed him with her eyes as he quickly shucked his wet shirt, and then pulled on the dry one. Next, he expertly built a fire in the woodstove. Raw, tugging hunger gathered low. She wanted him more than words could say.

Outwardly, she remained calm, but inwardly the pain his declaration evoked still tore at her heart, ripping her hopes to shreds.

Sucking in her breath as the fire caught and illuminated the mahogany lights in his hair, Callie realized tonight would be her only chance to convince Jake she loved him and he needed her for more than just his cousins. When he returned to the ranch, he’d discover her secret and all bets would be off. But, if she carefully wove herself into his heart, she might stand a chance after the dust settled.

“One can only hope,” she murmured, crossing her fingers behind her back.

Wiping the last of the dinner dishes, Callie grew aware of Jake’s restlessness. As she stretched to put away the plate, a soft click behind her and a cool draft on her exposed legs told her he’d opened the door once again.

Throwing aside the rough, damp dishtowel, Callie twirled around. Jake leaned against the doorjamb, bracing a hand on the other side. His jeans hugged his sexy backside and powerful thighs. A tiny thrill shot through her as she noted how his shirt stretched taut across his broad back and wide shoulders. His shadowed profile revealed little. But a bit of wistfulness in the soft sigh he emitted echoed from where he stood.

A shaft of pain sliced through her chest. “The bull is restless, I see.” She made light of it, although it hurt terribly to realize he didn’t want to be here with her.

“Huh?” He jerked his head around to look at her, dropping his hand to his hip. His frown told her he either didn’t hear her or he didn’t understand.

She forced a smile as she walked to his side. “It’s obvious you don’t like being penned in.” She shrugged as she took a similar pose across from him, hugging herself.

Callie simply stared at the man who held her heart. As she let her gaze travel over his endearing features, she memorized each tiny line, every angle, knowing she may never have the chance again. Finally, she allowed herself to look into his brandy-colored eyes. Her heart stilled, and then thundered wildly at the brilliant light shining in their depths.

“I’ve been tied down for years. I want my freedom, Callie. I’ve never made that a secret.” His honeyed voice poured over her, rich and warm.

“I know,” she whispered brokenly. “And I want a home. A permanent place to settle down.”

He reached out, lightly brushing his knuckles across her cheek. Callie turned her mouth into his work-roughened palm, kissing it reverently, tasting the slightly salty, tangy flesh, savoring the delicate touch.

“With the white picket fence and a passel of kids,” he added, dragging his callused thumb softly across her lips.

Pin prickles of awareness shot from the point of contact and raced over her nerve endings. Quivers of delight engulfed her, fanning her longing for him.

He trailed his fingers along her jaw, and then to her sensitive neck. She closed her eyes as a wave of desire washed over her. “I want you.” The voice she heard sounded sultry and foreign to her.

He moaned, sending an answering ripple straight to her core. “And I want you.”

Opening her heavy eyelids, she asked, “So what’s stopping us then?” A part of her, the sane part, couldn’t believe her blatant question.

He smiled, a slanted grin that tugged on her heartstrings. “I’m no good for you, honey. I never will be.”

His clipped, terse words pierced her heart. He pulled away, but she grabbed for his hand and held it tightly to her bosom. “Please, stay,” she begged, hoping that the intimate atmosphere would cause him to open up more to her. She relaxed the minute he stopped fighting her.

Jake sighed heavily, allowing Callie to lace her fingers with his. Her skin, so soft and so smooth, whipped his emotions into a frenzy.

Seeking some control, he gazed out into the inky blackness. He breathed in the night air, savoring the fresh clean scent. The rain pelted the ground in a steady rhythm, reminding him of the primitive feelings ensnaring his body. The coil of passion tightened even more.

He had a very sexy, very willing woman beside him, yet he failed to follow up on the inclination pounding away inside him. Why had he warned her? Why had he held back?

In a moment of stark clarity, he realized that at some time in the recent past, the line blurred between his needs and the compulsion to allow her to fulfill her own dreams. No other woman had ever elicited that response from him.
And no other lady ever turned me inside out like Callie does.

“Why don’t you want your family?”

Her gently asked question sent a riot of emotions spiraling out of control. Shock waves crashed down, nearly suffocating in intensity. Panic, unleashed and roaring, clenched his heart, wringing out his life’s blood. And quite unexpectedly a seed of hope took root, flowering and spreading.

No one had ever come so close to his darkest secret before. He never truly deserved all that had been given to him. Hadn’t Jake discovered that when he covertly went through Duke’s files of the adoption two decades ago? The huge sum of money Duke paid for Jake seemed preposterous even now.

Having found Jake on his doorstep, abandoned, Duke had moved heaven and Earth to uncover the truth. In a matter of days, Duke had tracked down the couple. Jake’s biological parents, gypsies at heart, didn’t want, nor could support, a child.
Throw-away baby.
And, once Duke made his proposal, they didn’t hesitate to sell their own flesh and blood.

Money had mattered more than he did.

From that moment on, he felt cheap.

But Duke never treated him like that. The man, big and impressive, showed little emotion and wasn’t demonstrative. Jake didn’t need him to. Deep down, he sensed Duke cared for him. And once, Duke did tell him.

It still wasn’t the same, though, not like being born into a loving family who truly wanted you just for you.

In the end, he felt like a burden.

Maybe that’s why for all those years of bull riding and winning money, he handed it over to Duke and poured it back into the ranch. He not only wanted to help, he needed to give back to the man who sacrificed for him.

Now, perspiration dotted Jake’s forehead as he tried to think of something to say. “They’re not mine. I already told you I’m adopted,” he said gruffly, fighting the fragile threads of unconditional love he felt coming from Callie.

“Bloodlines don’t mean a thing, Jake. Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

He welcomed the blanketing silence that followed. He tried to pull his hand free. But Callie held fast, now using both her hands. He relented.

“I envy you your family, Jake Lassiter.”

Stunned, he twisted to her, glimpsing the raw, unvarnished longing chasing over her face. He stared at her, speechless and slack-jawed. No one had ever coveted anything of his before, least of all his family.

“Did I ever tell you about my family?” She refused him time to answer. “I’ll tell you the abbreviated version. When my father met my mother, it was lust at first sight. As you can guess, they fell into bed that night. Soon after, he sailed out of port. She found out about me and went back home to live. Two years later, my father showed up, wanting her, accepting me in the bargain. They barely knew each other, yet tried to make it work.”

Jake watched her closely. Anguish etched her features, causing his heart to clench. “Callie, you don’t have to do this.”

She swiped at a fast falling tear. “I want to. I think I need to.” Clearing her throat, she resumed her tale. “Well, it turned out horrible, but for some insane reason they drew out the marriage another five years. Until my grand—” her voice broke, “my grandfather died. That’s when my mother sold his house and divorced my father. It got better for them. But worse for me. To make a short story even shorter, they both remarried and started new families. I was the kid nobody wanted. My mother claimed I acted like my father and couldn’t stand me. And my father said I bore a striking resemblance to my mother and hated to even look at me.”