Have Cowboy, Need Cupid (14 page)

A nurse strode toward them, shaking her head. “Mr. Hartwell’s awake, demanding to see his family. I can guarantee you that man won’t be down for long.”

Nervous laughter sputtered through the crowd.

“Sounds like Dad,” Suzanne said.

“He’ll be ordering everyone around soon,” Rebecca added with a tight smile.

“I told him five minutes only and nobody can upset him. You can go in two at a time.”

Grammy Rose gestured toward Rebecca and Suzanne and Eleanor. “Bec, you and Eleanor go first. Then Wiley and Suzanne can go in together. I’ll go last.”

Suzanne nodded. She and her uncle could both apologize for bringing on his attack.

Rebecca and Eleanor agreed and clasped hands, then slipped down the hall toward the ICU.

Rafe stroked Suzanne’s back. “You okay, sugar?”

She nodded. “Thanks for coming, Rafe. I…I’m sorry I got so emotional.” She pressed a hand to his damp shirt, embarrassed over her earlier outburst.

He tipped her chin up with his thumb and looked into her eyes. “You’re allowed.” A crooked smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, then he glanced toward her family. “You want me to leave so you can be with your family, or wait around and drive you home?”

She hesitated, then squeezed his hand, knowing her heart was in her eyes. “Wait. I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

He nodded, a flicker of understanding in his tender smile.

A
FEW MINUTES LATER
, Suzanne and her uncle slipped into her father’s room. Suzanne prayed seeing Wiley wouldn’t upset him, but she also understood the guilt weighing on Wiley’s shoulders and couldn’t deny him a short visit. He hung back in the corner, looking hesitant, even though his bright-orange tie glowed in the stark white of the room.

Suzanne inched closer, and her father opened his eyes. The steady drip of an IV cut through the silence, the sterile odor nauseating her. Her father looked pale and smaller somehow, his body attached to several tubes and wires.

“Don’t you freak out over these damn machines now,” he growled, although Suzanne heard affection in his voice. And worry.

How like her father to be concerned about her and Rebecca when he needed the attention.

Suzanne pasted on a brave smile and gathered his hand in hers. He touched her cheek.

“Suz, girl, I don’t remember the last time you cried.” His voice grew lower. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Well, you did,” Suzanne admitted, realizing it was freeing to voice her emotions out loud. “So, don’t do it again, okay?”

He cracked a weak smile. “Promise.”

“You have to change a few things, too. Cut down on your hours, watch your cholesterol—”

“Eleanor already read me the riot act,” he said, his mouth twitching again. “I have a feeling she’ll be watching me like a hawk.”

“Good, it’s time you relaxed and let someone take care of you for a while.”

“We may even take a second honeymoon. She’s pretty special.”

Suzanne squeezed his hand. “I’m glad you found her.” And she had found Rafe. Could it work out for them? “Dad, I’m so sorry I upset you earlier. I—”

“Hush, now, Suzanne. Don’t go treatin’ me like an invalid. You’ve always stood up for what you believed in, so don’t quit now. That’s one thing I love about you.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

She leaned over and hugged him, fighting tears again. Her father cleared his throat. “Now, get over here, Wiley. And don’t go sayin’ some fool thing like we’re not going to fight anymore.”

Wiley shuffled closer, fiddling with his tie. “Well, it’s probably a good idea—”

“Hell’s bells, why?” Bert bellowed. “What fun would that be? And what in the world would our families do for entertainment?”

Wiley quirked his head, then burst into laughter. Suzanne knew everything was going to be all right.

Everything except her own personal life. But she couldn’t think about that now. She just wanted to go home with Rafe. To be with him for the night….

Chapter Thirteen

A few minutes later, Grammy Rose hobbled out from the ICU. “Praise be! That son of mine’s going to be just fine.”

“He will, won’t he?” Rebecca said, still looking worried, although Thomas’s comforting hand on the small of her back seemed to have calmed her.

“I didn’t raise him or Wiley to be quitters,” Grammy said. “’Sides, I told him he needed to hang around, that his grandkids were going to need him.”

Everyone laughed, and Rebecca blushed, but Grammy Rose gave Suzanne a teasing look out of the corner of her eye. She wasn’t suggesting she would wind up mommy material, was she? Rebecca would be a natural, but Suzanne had no maternal instincts. She barely even remembered her own mother, much less what a mother should do, how she should care for her children.

Suzanne glanced at Rafe, then remembered the tender way he’d helped care for that baby calf. Would he be even more gentle with a real child? His own baby?

She shuddered. What in the world was she thinking? She was
not
imagining having Rafe’s baby, was she?

She could see a dark-haired little girl or boy toddling after him, begging to learn how to ride. A miniature Stetson on top of his or her head, wearing little cowboy boots.

Good heavens, she had to get a grip.

Her cousins began to chatter at once about when they’d return to visit Bert, and Grammy Rose pulled her aside.

Rafe had sidled near the corner, looking out of place and uncomfortable, yet she noticed Rebecca approach him and introduce him to Thomas.

“Now, tell me, is this your young cowboy?” Grammy Rose asked.

Suzanne winced. “He’s not my cowboy, Grammy. He’s…just a man.”

“Uh-huh.” Grammy offered an admiring perusal of his body. “And a fine specimen, if you ask me.”

Suzanne couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s all right.”

“All right. Honey, that man is a stallion if I’ve ever seen one.” Grammy winked. “Bet he could keep a girl happy all night and then some.”

“I wouldn’t know.” Suzanne tugged at the collar of her blouse. “He’s simply been giving me riding lesson, Grams. And showing me his property.”

“Is that what men call it these days? Showing you their property?”

“Grammy!” Suzanne cupped her mouth over her hand to stifle a laugh.

“Well, darlin’, I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.”

Rafe glanced up and tipped his head toward her. Grammy Rose charged forward. “It’s about time you introduced me, honey.”

Suzanne tried to catch her grandmother before she cornered Rafe, but she was too late. The minute Grammy Rose fluttered a hand up to fan her face, Suzanne knew she was in trouble.

R
AFE TWISTED SIDEWAYS
, feeling vaguely out of place with this close-knit menagerie of a family and trying to behave as politely as possible to Rebecca and her husband. But the words
inquisition
and
interrogation
kept drifting through his mind.

He squirmed even more as the feisty-looking white-haired lady toddled toward him, waving her cane and grinning. “Hey, there, Rebecca, Thomas. I thought I’d introduce myself to Suzanne’s young man.”

She thought he was Suzanne’s young man? What had given her that idea? Had Suzanne suggested something?

The waiting room grew quiet as Suzanne’s cousins, their husbands and her uncle Wiley turned to watch. Rebecca giggled, Thomas raised a brow and Suzanne’s cheeks flamed. A small smile twisted at the corners of Rafe’s lips.

“Howdy, ma’am.” He tipped his hat in a gentlemanly gesture and noticed Suzanne’s surprise. Was she accustomed to rude city men? Wealthy or not, his mama had taught him manners, especially when it came to elderly women. He cradled her grandmother’s hand and kissed it, liking her immediately. “My name is Rafe McAllister,” he said. “You have to be one of the beautiful Hartwell women. They all take after you.”

Grammy Rose hooted, then turned to Suzanne and winked again. “Why, thank you, Mr. McAllister. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She hooked her arm in his, and he sensed he had an ally. “Now, tell me, don’t you think our little Suzanne is just the sweetest thing since sugar on a biscuit?”

S
UGAR ON A BISCUIT
?

How could her grandmother have embarrassed her like that? And Rafe had played right along.

Darn the sexy man.

Besides, Suzanne was not sweet. She was sassy and independent and a high-maintenance career woman, not at all like her sweet, wonderful sister.

Her cousins hugged and said goodbye, Wiley and his new wife left with them, Grammy Rose in tow, then Rebecca and Thomas followed, but not before Rebecca offered Suzanne a little advice.

“Go for it,” she whispered right before she’d cuddled up to Thomas. “And forget the land deal, sis. He’s too hunky to pass up.”

Hunky? Had Rebecca actually said hunky, as if they were teenagers?

Suzanne smiled to herself in the dark as Rafe drove her back to Rebecca’s apartment. For a minute she’d thought Rafe was going to recant his offer and encourage her to ride with her family, so she’d had to speak up. Talk about being obvious. Maybe she was too obvious.

The minute she stepped inside, she caught her reflection in the oval mirror over the antique table in the foyer. Although darkness cloaked the room, moonlight flickered off the mirror, showcasing her puffy red eyes and disheveled appearance. Her shoulders were knotted, and it felt like days since she’d showered. But for the first time since she could remember, she didn’t care that she looked rough around the edges or that she’d cried in front of this man or that she wasn’t impeccably dressed. Or that she was being almost forward in stating her desire for him.

Suzanne had always gone after what she’d wanted, and she wasn’t about to change for anyone.

Right now, she wanted this man.

“You look exhausted,” Rafe said quietly. He flicked the light switch on the wall, bathing the room in bright light.

Suzanne flipped off the light, then stopped so his body brushed hers. The whisper of his hungry breath turned her inside out. Then he reached out and massaged her shoulders. The minute his firm hands gripped her, heat shot through her. But it was the tenderness in his touch that sent a surge of longing to her soul.

Suzanne slowly turned to him. She was offering him her heart on a platter, but she didn’t care. “Rafe, thank you for tonight. For…” She caught his Stetson by the brim, then slid it off. Good heavens, he had sexy brooding eyes. And slashes of granite for cheekbones. “For staying with me.”

He tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “No problem. I’m glad your dad’s going to be okay.”

Suzanne nestled up against his broad chest, the terror she’d felt earlier resurfacing. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in all my life.” It felt so good to admit her feelings for a change. Maybe Grammy had been right. It was high time she tore those walls down. Rafe was worth tearing them down for.

Rafe threaded his fingers into her hair and stroked her neck, massaging away the tension. “I know, but it’s going to be all right now.”

Suzanne rubbed a hand over his back, her heart thumping wildly at the way his muscles bunched. He was referring to her father’s health, but she wanted to believe that everything else would be all right. That somehow they’d work out the land deal and Rafe would be able to keep the ranch he loved, the home his mother treasured. Just like her grandmother treasured her home on Pine Mountain.

Why hadn’t she seen it that way before?

But she didn’t want to think about land deals or her grandmother or his mother tonight. Or her lies. She simply wanted to feel Rafe against her. Holding her. Loving her all through the night.

So she reached up and kissed him, then led him to the bedroom.

R
AFE TRIED TO REMIND HIMSELF
that this was Suzanne Hartwell, a fancy girl from the city, that she was temporarily visiting her family and staying at her sister’s apartment, that she would be leaving and soon be out of his life. And that she might just take his heart with her. But as her grandmother said, she was the sweetest thing since sugar on a biscuit.

And it had been a damn long time since he’d par-taken of either.

He was determined to savor every delicious bite.

Still, he hesitated and tipped Suzanne’s chin up to search her eyes. Did she really want him, the run-down cowboy, in her bed? In her
life?

Because as much as he wanted to steer clear of her, he wasn’t sure he could settle for one night.

“Suzanne, are you sure?”

His voice sounded husky to his own ears, riddled with the echo of doubt. Damn, he didn’t want to sound as if he was begging.

But seconds later his worries disintegrated when Suzanne stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. He tasted the fire of her desire and caught the devilish gleam in her sensual eyes and knew that tonight he was going to make her his.

A sense of power yet soul-wrenching tenderness overcame him.

Threading his fingers through the long tresses of her silky hair, he claimed her mouth with his, seeking, searching, yearning. Her passion rose to meet his, driven from the depths of his soul. He slid his hand to her nape, caressing and stroking the sensitive skin just before he dragged his mouth down to lave her. He nibbled and suckled, his hands gently teasing her shoulders, the slope of her back, then skimmed up her body to trace a journey along her collarbone. Her sharp intake of air told him she liked his touch, the womanly fragrance of lust emanating from her almost intoxicating.

Then she went wild, stroking and kneading the muscles in his arms, his back, cupping his face to suck at his lips, trailing her own damp tongue along his jawbone and into his ear until he shuddered with hunger.

“I’ve never wanted a man like I want you, Rafe,” she whispered into his neck as her hands teased his shirt open. Snaps popped, fingers tangled into the dark curls on his chest. He exhaled on a choked groan, then found himself standing still at the admiration in her eyes.

“You are something to see,” she said in such an erotic voice his sex literally surged against his jeans. She must have sensed it because her gaze shot south, then she licked her lips.

Damn. “Suzanne.”

A smile curved her mouth as her gaze met his. “I want you, Rafe. I don’t care how slow or fast, but I want you.”

The woman was killing him.

“Honey, I want you, too. But I want to make it good for you.”

She lowered her hand and cupped him, causing fire to shoot through his loins. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Then she shocked him by raising her hands and twisting the buttons of her shirt. He reached out to help her, their hands becoming a frenzy of hurried movements until she tossed the shirt to the floor. Her small beautiful breasts clad in black lace taunted him, the rigid peaks of her nipples straining against fabric that was meant only to tease the imagination. Soft skin dappled in moonlight glowed like silk, begging for his kisses.

A sudden feeling of reverence filled him, and he gently stroked the ends of her hair, spreading it across her bare shoulders. “You are so beautiful.” Emitting a low groan, he lowered his head and kissed her again, hard, telling her exactly what he wanted to do to her with his tongue before he nuzzled her breasts with his hands. Moaning with desire, he licked his way down to her cleavage and suckled her through the lace. Suzanne groaned with such abandonment that he felt himself coming apart. But not yet…

I
F EVER A PERSON
was going to die from want, Suzanne was on the hit list. She practically sobbed for Rafe to take her to heaven, but he seemed to revel in torturing her. First with his massive sexy body, now with his hands and tongue. He made a savage foray down her throat and breasts, sucking her until she thought she would explode from need. She fell into his arms, her breathing ragged as he walked her back towards the bed and they collapsed on top of the covers, all without his mouth ever leaving her. She writhed and groaned and struggled to trap his body close to her with her legs, winding them around him until she felt the hard presence of his arousal. Shifting upward, she accommodated him, the image of him naked becoming an unbearable mystery as his jeans scraped against her own.

Then he was taking them off. Hers. His. Rubbing his bare hairy legs against her smooth ones, his fingers cradling her hips and lifting her to slide off the black lace panties that were slick with heat he had ignited. Suzanne threw her head back and groaned, then perused his body with her eyes, taking in his magnificent size and the potency of his desire. All of which inflamed her even more.

“Come here, Rafe.” She beckoned him to join her, but he shook his head.

“Not yet, baby.”

Her breath caught in her chest as he slid on a condom and lowered his mouth to taste the heart of her. One touch of his tongue sent her to heaven. The rest made stars explode into the sky.

She screamed his name on a shudder, erotic sensations rippling through her, and begged him once again to join her. Finally she felt relief as his sex surged into her, taking her home and marking her with his personal stamp. And as he whispered her name and kissed her hair, she fell apart in his arms, clutching at him until she was sure she had clawed his skin raw.

Just as he had exposed the raw and primal part within her.

R
AFE NUZZLED
Suzanne’s neck, pulling her naked body into his. His own body still shuddered with the aftermath of their passion, while his mind had become a muddled mess.

One time definitely wasn’t enough.

He wasn’t sure it would ever be enough.

“Your grandma was wrong, you’re not sweet like sugar,” he whispered. She jerked her head back and searched his eyes.

“You’re more like molasses. Rich—” he kissed her lips, then her neck “—and spicy sweet—” he licked her neck “—and addicting.”

Suzanne laughed. “And you’re like chocolate,” she said, trading lick for lick. “One bite makes me crave more.”

They made love again, this time tenderly and slow. As they nestled into each other’s arms and sleep claimed them, Rafe tightened his arms around Suzanne. Somehow he had to make things work with this woman.