Against the Fire (26 page)

Lust kicked in. Big-time.

“I want you,” he said between hot, wet kisses. “Right here, right now.”

Mattie trembled. Her gaze shot to the open windows. “I want you, too, but maybe we should—”

“Not a soul around,” he promised, and kissed her again, his tongue mating with hers as he deepened the kiss. He felt her hesitation. This kind of desire was new to her, but Mattie liked sex and so did he, and he knew her now, knew that she liked it when he took charge, took away the decision.

Turning her around, he drew her fiery hair aside and kissed the nape of her neck as he bent her over the low back of the sofa. He slid up the skirt of her flowered dress, pulled aside her tiny pink thong panties and began to stroke her.

Mattie moaned.

“You like this, don’t you, honey.”

“Gabe…” She whimpered, arching her back to give him better access.

“Part your legs for me, sweetheart.”

She did as he commanded, giving him a little more room. Unzipping his jeans, he freed himself, rolled on the condom he slipped out of his pocket, positioned himself and took her with a single deep thrust.

Mattie made a funny little sound in her throat and Gabe fought for control.

“God, you feel so good,” he said. “I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

Mattie trembled as he gripped her hips and began to move, easing himself out, then driving deeply again. She felt hot and snug as he increased the rhythm, felt the heat and need building inside him. A few deep thrusts and she started to come, crying his name and trembling as her body clenched around him.

Gabe didn’t stop. Not until she came again.

An instant later, he exploded in a powerful release.

Mattie turned into Gabe’s arms and just held on to him. Lord, she felt like a wanton. Clearly Lena Sterling wasn’t entirely a fantasy person. She buried her face in his solid chest, embarrassed to look at him, and felt his fingers beneath her chin. He gently brushed a light kiss over her lips, adjusted her skirt and zipped up his jeans, then reached down and picked up her bag.

“Come on, honey.” He took her hand and started leading her down the hall as if what they had just done in the living room wasn’t the least bit out of the norm. Apparently it wasn’t for men like Gabe. She thought of the pleasure he had given her. Maybe it was all right with her, too.

She forced her mind to the present, noticed the framed photographs lining the hallway, a picture of a giant oak tree, its branches drooping toward the earth. A field of tall, billowing grasses. A winding dirt lane that seemed to have no end, and an old wooden barn.

She paused to get a better look. “These photos are wonderful. I noticed some similar pictures in your study. Where did you get them?”

“I took them. It’s kind of a hobby of mine.”

She was only a little surprised. For such a masculine man, Gabe had a fine sense of design. “They’re beautiful, Gabe.”

“Thanks.”

He was a talented man, she was discovering—in more ways than just as a lover. It was one more thing she hadn’t expected when she had first met him.

Gabe led her farther down the hall till they reached the master bedroom. “I’ll give you some time to freshen up, then I’ll show you the rest of the ranch.”

She needed a moment. Her heart was still hammering from their mindless bout of sex and her body still felt slightly boneless. After a few minutes in his big, Spanish-tiled bathroom, Mattie emerged in jeans, sneakers and a short-sleeved white cotton blouse. Gabe gave her a quick perusal and his crystal-blue eyes gleamed with approval. They made a tour of the house, which continued in the Spanish motif, then he led her outside.

“You have horses?” she asked, catching sight of a beautiful palomino and a big, stout bay.

“Just a couple. That’s Sundance and Warrior. I always wanted a horse when I was a kid but we were too poor. Someday I’d like to raise quarter horses. Might happen. You never know.”

“You told me once you never knew your father. What was your mother like?”

His mouth tightened. “She was a drunk and a pill popper. When we were little, her boyfriends used to knock us around. As soon as Jackson got old enough, that came to a screeching end.”

“You said your brother was a champion boxer.”

“That’s right. He boxed in the Olympics. Didn’t win, but he made a damned good showing.”

“And Devlin is an ex-ranger. I guess tough guys run in the family.”

He shrugged those powerful shoulders. “It was kind of a matter of survival.”

Mattie paused at the wooden fence that surrounded the pasture where the horses were kept. “Families like yours…that’s the reason I got involved in the Family Recovery Center. When I was young, I had a friend whose father used to beat her and her mother. She begged me not to tell anyone and I didn’t. I always regretted that decision.”

“You said you were young. It wasn’t your fault, and getting involved might have made things worse.”

“That’s what my friend said.”

Gabe’s blue eyes searched her face. “That friend wouldn’t be Tracy Spencer, would it?”

Mattie glanced away.

“Still keeping your promise, I see.”

“She still isn’t entirely past it.”

“You didn’t help Tracy, so now you do whatever you can to keep that from happening to other kids.”

“That’s right. Though mostly the center deals with families who aren’t being abused anymore, just trying to recover from what’s happened to them.”

She thought of Angel, who’d survived his father’s abuse only to wind up beaten and in a coma, and her chest went tight.

“I can see where your mind is going. We’ll call the hospital a little later and check on him, but Angel’s going to be all right.”

She nodded, though neither of them could know for sure.

“In the meantime, we’re here in the wide-open spaces. Let’s enjoy it.”

He was right. Taking a few hours to enjoy themselves wasn’t a reason to feel guilty. Mattie smiled up at him. “Can we ride the horses?”

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.” He laughed. “Well, maybe I can, but for now let’s do the other kind of riding.”

Mattie blushed and hoped he didn’t see.

Twenty-Five

Gabe grilled a steak for himself and a couple of pieces of chicken for Mattie. The rest of their supper, a crisp green salad, au gratin potatoes and garlic French bread, had already been prepared and were waiting for them in the fridge.

The meal was delicious. Though Mattie was a little bit saddle-sore from riding Sundance over the winding trails through the lush Hill Country, it had been worth it. After supper, they took what was left of the bottle of cabernet they had shared and sat out on the patio, snuggled together on a comfortable outdoor sofa.

“Think you could ever live in a place like this?” Gabe asked as she settled against his shoulder. “Or would it be too quiet for you?”

A little tremor of unease trickled through her. This was the second time Gabe had mentioned something that hinted at a deeper relationship.

“I don’t know…I was raised in the Dallas suburbs. At least until my dad died. Then Mom and I moved into an apartment closer to town.” She surveyed the lush foliage, the horses frolicking in the field. “I’m sure it’s a great place to raise kids.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

Mattie looked up at him, a knot beginning to form in her stomach. “You aren’t thinking about me in that scenario, are you, Gabe?”

He shrugged. “I think you’d make a great mother.”

“And wife?”

Those beautiful blue eyes fixed on her face. “You’re intelligent and caring. You’re an amazing lover. Those are the kinds of things a man looks for in a wife.”

Mattie straightened away from him. “Making love with someone is a lot different than being married. I’m not ready for something that serious, Gabe. You know that. My career comes first. It always has.”

He glanced away. “Yeah, that’s what you said. I guess being here…I don’t know…it makes me wonder about my priorities.”

Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Mattie stood up from the sofa. The pink-and-gold sky over the horizon had faded to a soft, shadowy darkness, the quiet broken only by the sound of the cicadas and the occasional whicker of the horses.

“It’s getting late,” she said. “Why don’t we go to bed?” She knew it would distract him. Never one to turn down sex, Gabe stood up and scooped her up in his arms.

“Why don’t we? I’ve got this fantasy of making slow, incredibly erotic love to you.”

Mattie smiled, relaxing as they returned to a safer subject. “Is that right?”

“Yeah. How about I show you?”

But once they got in bed, things heated up the way they always did. Mattie didn’t want to go slow and in the end, neither did Gabe.

“One of these days…” he grumbled as he wrapped a thick arm around her and curled her against his side.

Mattie just smiled.

But slowly her smile began to fade. Gabe had hinted at a future together. Little by little, she was coming to trust him. She was letting down her guard, beginning to rely on him as she had vowed she never would another man.

She thought of Mark and the baby and how he had abandoned her. She thought of her mother and the miserable years they had suffered after her father had died.

She valued her independence, valued her career more than anything else in the world.

More, even, than the man she could so easily fall in love with.

Mattie’s chest tightened. She couldn’t do it, couldn’t risk falling in love.

It wasn’t until Gabe began to kiss her, till after he made love to her again, that she was able to fall asleep.

Brooks and Dunn were singing. Lost in slumber, for an instant, Gabe was enjoying the performance. Then he realized it was his cell phone and his eyes popped open. His heart was slamming as he grabbed the phone off the nightstand, swung his legs to the side of the bed and flipped open his cell.

“Raines.”

The clock read 2:00 a.m.

“Gabe, it’s Thomas Daily. There’s been another fire.”

His fingers bit into the plastic. “Where?”

“The Egyptian Theater.”

His stomach sank. He felt Mattie come up behind him, press her cheek against his shoulder. “I had a guard watching the place. How’d the bastard get in?”

“Hit the guard over the head. The attack was similar to the one on the Ramirez kid. It supports the theory it’s the same guy. The good news is, someone coming out of a bar down the street witnessed the assault. He ran back inside and called the police. They got there just as the fire was getting started. The damage is minimal.”

Some of the tightness eased from Gabe’s chest. “How’s the guard doing?”

“They took him to the hospital and got him checked out. He’s got a lump on his head, but he’s okay.”

“He get a look at the perp?”

“No, but the witness did. Said he was average height, lean, dressed completely in black and wearing a hood over his head. He used a baseball bat to take out the guard. Must have disabled the security camera before the attack, smashed it while the guard was making his rounds behind the building.”

Gabe blew out a long, frustrated breath. “Pretty clear Sanders isn’t our man.”

“He’ll be processed and released.”

“Listen, I’m out of town. I was planning to head back to Dallas tomorrow. I can be there tonight if you need me.”

“Tomorrow’s fine. Call me when you get here.”

Gabe ended the call and hung up the phone. Mattie reached down for the T-shirt he’d tossed at the foot of the bed and pulled it on, scooted over beside him.

“Another fire?”

“Egyptian Theater.”

“Oh, Gabe, no.”

“Daily says the damage isn’t that bad.”

“Thank God. I know how much you love that place.”

“He assaulted the night watchman. Same M.O. as Angel.”

Mattie sighed. “I guess your friend Sanders is innocent after all.”

“Apparently. Daily’s taking care of his release.”

He felt her hand on his arm, lightly rubbing up and down to ease some of his worry. “You never believed he was guilty.”

“No, but part of me wanted him to be. Now we’re right back where we started.”

“Oh, Gabe.”

He raked a hand through his sleep-mussed hair. “There was a witness to the assault on the guard. He said the guy was average height, lean and dressed completely in black.”

“Not much to go on.”

“Not much.” He stared off into the darkness. “Who the hell is it?” he said to no one in particular.

When Mattie leaned toward him, Gabe drew her into his arms. Sensing how much he needed her, she didn’t resist when he eased her back down on the bed and began to make love to her again.

Mattie didn’t want more from him than sex.

He was good at that.

For the first time in his life, it wasn’t enough.

Instead of sleeping late as they had planned, Mattie followed Gabe out of bed at six o’clock the next morning. They ate a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, which she cooked while Gabe went outside to tend the horses.

She was still having trouble getting used to the quiet, just the wind sighing through the trees and the rustle of the leaves on the branches. Maybe the quiet gave her too much time to think.

She didn’t want that. Not when most of her thoughts centered around Gabe.

Still, it was lovely in the country.

As soon as they’d finished eating and put the dishes into the dishwasher, they headed for the small airstrip south of Kerrville. They were back in Dallas before ten o’clock, and at Gabe’s condo less than an hour later.

Which was why it was such a surprise to find someone waiting when they got there.

The intruder had the same six-foot-two-inch frame, Mattie saw as he rose casually from an overstuffed chair, the same crystal-blue eyes and nearly black hair. He was leaner, but just as solidly built, his shoulders wide, his hips narrow inside a pair of designer jeans, and the biceps exposed by his short-sleeved, yellow oxford cloth shirt were impressive.

Mattie knew in a heartbeat she was about to meet Gabe’s brother.

“Devlin! Damn, I can’t believe you’re here.” Gabe strode toward him. The younger Raines met him halfway across the room and they shared a brotherly hug.