One More Night (7 page)

Silently Nate watched her, and he actually felt sorry for her when he saw how the problem seemed to have conquered her. He straightened up and pulled out the chair beside her, and sat down. His hand reached for hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “There's only one solution to the problem,” when she turned up her gaze to his, he smiled reassuringly.
"They'll get married."

Oh how simple he thought it would be, Cooper thought, but she knew it wouldn't be. She pulled her hand free from his and clutched them together under the table. “And you think your cousin would be good husband material after lying like he did?” she shook her head, and she grew angry. “Besides my sister has a few mental problems and constantly needs watching. I really don't think your illustrious cousin would be up to the task.” She finally finished snidely.

Mental problems, ah hell.
Nate wiped the palm of his hand over his face while he tried to think of a reasonable solution out of this blasted mess. “Explain your sister's problems.”

The rough tone of his voice stiffened her spine. “Because my mother drank heavily through her pregnancy while carrying my sister, Sandie has suffered some brain damage. Not drastic, but it takes some time for her to understand things and she needs constant supervision,” her eyes dropped, and guiltily she twisted her hands in her lap. “I'm afraid I failed miserably and now I don't have a clue what to do.”

Nate wanted to take her in his arms, but he suspected that if he showed her the slightest bit of sympathy, she would bite his head off. He leaned back in his chair and contemplated the top of her head. “If you say she has only a mild case of brain damage, I don't see any problem with them getting married.”

Her head snapping up, she eyed him with suspicion. “Oh yeah, right. As soon as the ceremony is over the lying coyote would probably run and never be seen again.”

His lips twitched, but he managed to contain his smile. “Let me assure you that he won't run. I'll make damn sure he doesn't. The little weasel will do the right thing, or he'll wish he did. Now I think I better hit the road. I'll ring you some time during the week and let you know when we'll be down.” He pushed himself up on his feet, and headed for the door.
No purpose in staying any longer and yet, he found himself reluctant to go at all.

Damn it, what was the matter with him, silently swearing he did up his shirt tucked it in to his jeans and picked up his bag. He didn't turn around when he heard her behind him, instead he opened the front door and stepped outside and headed for his car. Halfway down the path he came to an abrupt stop when her smart mouth words reached him.

“I'll give you the results of the tests I ran on myself yesterday when you ring. I'm sure you'll be eager for the results just as much as I am.” For some reason unknown even to herself, Cooper wanted to lash out at him.

His teeth grinding together, Nate ignored her and continued on, reaching his car, he unlocked it and tossed his bag in and sat down behind the wheel. He put the key in the ignition and turned the motor over. He fought against the need to take one more look at her before he left, it was a struggle and to his annoyance, he glanced towards the house.

His breath caught in his throat at seeing her leaning against the door frame with her arms folded over her chest, and a wistful sad look on her face. It took such willpower not to cut the engine, jump out of the car, go to her and take her in his arms.
What the hell was wrong with him
? He forced his gaze away, put the car in reverse, and watching out the review mirror backed out of the driveway.

Determined not to take another look at her, he shifted gears and drove away. It was one of the hardest things he ever did, and he couldn't understand why. He hadn't even reached the end of her street and he wanted to turn around.
Damn it what in the hell, what was wrong with him?
She's just another woman and one he didn't particularly like,
well except in bed and then he liked her a hell of a lot then.

He gave a rueful shake of his head, once he was back in Dallas this weirdness would go away, and she'll be just another fond memory. But to his annoyance, he didn't think it was going to be quite so easy as he thought it would be, and that made him even more to determine to forget her.

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ELEVEN

Back in Dallas, Nate found he couldn't settle into anything and he was relieved the next morning to be back sitting behind his desk, he could keep his mind occupied with work. He was busy going through some figures when he heard his door swing open, and looked up to see Trent step into the room. Tossing down his pen, he leaned back in his chair and waited for his brother to sit down.

“I didn't think you would be back so soon. How did things go?” Trent stretched out his legs making himself comfortable.

A grimace on his face, Nate could feel the anger swim through his veins. “The lying little turd seduced an innocent young woman who has mental problems. Nothing drastic mind you. He even had the nerve to use my name.”

“Jeez. What do you plan to do about it?” Trent could see how enraged his brother was over the situation, and couldn't blame him.

“Marriage. There's no other choice; the girls pregnant.” Came his terse answer.

“Hell.”

“I haven't worked out all the details yet. As soon as I have though they'll be married.” Nate knew he would have to use something over his cousin to force him to marry the girl, and keep him in line and there was a fair amount of incriminating evidence against him to make him toe the line.

Trent shook his head. “It won't be easy to persuade him.” When he saw his brother's severe smile, chuckled. “Ah, I see you have some of it worked out already. Now tell me about the sister. How did she react when she saw you again?” He was surprised at the telling look that washed over his brother's face before he hid it, that one swift look told him everything.

“You mean Cooper? The woman is the most obnoxious smart mouth little witch I've ever come across.” Nate growled out as he thought of her parting remark.

His lips held firm to stop himself from smiling, Trent nodded his head. “Yeah well, she's certainly has a great right hook.”

Nate threw his brother a murderous glare for reminding him of that scene in the boardroom. “Look I've got to go through these figures and when I finish I'll deal with the other matter. The sooner it's taken care of the better.”

Trent rose to his feet and saluted. “Right, I'll leave you to it then. Keep me up to date on the other matter.”

Watching his brother leave, Nate let out a heavy sigh, he thought once he drove away and being back home, he would be able to forget Cooper, but to his annoyance he found it impossible.
He couldn't stop thinking about her, or what they shared.
He also knew that he would be seeing her again,
and he wanted to have one more night with her
. Hopefully, after that he could put her out of his thoughts for good.

Just the thought of having another night with her sent his temperature rising, and a certain part of his body stirring to life, and he let out a soft curse. What was it about the confounded woman that disturbed him so much and made it impossible to forget her? For God sakes, she wasn't even his type but there was something about her that roused his senses to fever pitch.

Annoyed at himself and the infernal woman, he snatched up the phone and punched in some numbers. While he waited for it to ring, he tapped his fingers impatiently on the desk. “Jill, my sweet, it's Nate.”

“Oh Nate. How wonderful to hear from you darling.”

The voice gushed with eagerness and he let a slow sensual smile lift his lips. “Are you busy tonight? I thought we might have supper together.” He didn't doubt she would jump at the chance,
and she did.

“I would love nothing better than to have supper with you. Eight o'clock fine with you?”

“Eight it is. See you then.” Nate didn't wait for her to say goodbye and hung up the phone. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled grimly. One way to forget about a woman was to replace her with another one. Now with the situation under control, he went back to work.

~*~

Cooper kept herself busy, which wasn't hard, what with work, looking out for Sandie and taking care of the house. The days flew by, but always in the back of her mind, she waited for the phone to ring and hear Nate's deep sensual voice. She knew she was being ridiculous because there was nothing between them except two wild passionate nights. For goodness sakes,
she reminded herself that they didn't even like each other.

It was just sex, plain and simple. Nothing more nothing less, still no matter how many times she had this silent conversation with herself it didn't stop her from thinking about him. For some annoying reason she just wanted to see him again, hear his voice. The dratted man found his away under her skin, and made her itch to be with him again.

She rolled over in bed and thumped her pillow for the umpteenth time, ever since he left, she found it difficult to sleep and she knew the reason why. She missed the impossible man in her bed, how could she after only sharing it with him for two nights? She was crazy, one look at him, you could tell he wasn't a man that believed in a permanent relationship.

He was the love them and leave them type of man, wham bam thank you ma'am
, then moved on to the next conquest. It really didn't bother her since he wasn't the type of man she would usually have anything to do with. He was way too arrogant, far too bossy and she suspected an overinflated ego, but she couldn't deny he certainly knew how to give a woman pleasure.

Another thump of the pillow and she rolled over on to her back, and glared furiously up at the dark ceiling. She shouldn't be thinking about him, she needed to concentrate on Sandie's problem. Would Nate make his dirt bag cousin marry her sister, and what would stop the weasel from taking off the first chance he found?
Where would that leave Sandie and baby

There wasn't any easy solution to this problem that she could see. No matter what happened, her sister would still be her concern. Even if Sandie did marry it wouldn't change anything. She closed her eyes and thought of the responsibility that would be hers for the rest of her life. It might not be fair and it truly wasn't, she didn't blame her sister for the situation though.

Letting out a weary sigh, she knew these depressing thoughts weren't helping her fall asleep. Nor was thinking about the intimate moments with the blasted annoying man helping at all. She huffed an annoyed breath, and squeezed her eyes shut. She had two days off starting tomorrow, maybe it would be a good idea to ring her friend Shelly in Dallas and have her arrange a dinner date.

Now that she thought about it, it didn't sound like a bad idea. It had been a very long time since she'd dated a man and with any luck it would help her forget about Nate McGregor.
Yes, she thought it wasn't a bad idea at all
. She would arrange for Sandie to stay at their cousins and once she organized things with Shelly, she would drive to the city and let her hair down.

She allowed her thoughts to drift and wondered what she should wear. Mentally she took stock of her wardrobe and grimaced
. Nothing exciting there she admitted
. What she needed to do was some serious shopping and why not? She could use some more clothing and she definitely needed to get out more. So it was settled a dinner date with hopefully a handsome, interesting man and a spree of shopping.

Sounded like the perfect plan.
Satisfied with herself, she snuggled deeper into the mattress. She was just drifting off to sleep when her mobile phone rang. Darn it, she sprang up reached over and switched on the bedside lamp, picked up the phone and answered it. “Yes.”

“I see your bedside manner hasn't improved any Doc.”

The deep resonant voice made her stomach flip, she didn't need to ask who was calling. She'd know that silky smooth voice anywhere,
much to her annoyance
. She scowled and drew in a deep breath. “And who is this?” No way was she going to stroke his ego by letting him know that she knew who it was.

“I didn't think you were the type of woman that played games Cooper, but I'll go along with you. It's Nate as you well know.”

Her fingers curled into the palm of her hand, damn arrogant man. “McGregor, is there any reason why you're calling at this time of night?”

“No just checking to make sure everything is alright with Sandie.”

“In other words you just want to make sure she's still pregnant.” She was annoyed that was the only reason he rang. She heard his deep sigh of irritation and was only slightly satisfied.

“You always have to think the worst of me don't you? Well never mind, goodbye Cooper.”

Her lashes came down, and she bit her bottom lip. Darn it, he was right and it didn't make her feel good.
Why couldn't she give him a fair chance?
Because stupid, you know that if you did that you just might start to let yourself care. Without opening her eyes, she dropped back down on the mattress, no longer able to deny the truth. If she wasn't careful she could develop feelings for Nate McGregor and it would be disastrous.

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TWELVE

Nate was furious with himself for giving into the need to hear Cooper's voice. He snarled as he paced the floor of living room floor
. Damn the infernal woman, she'd ruined his life.
Not once since he'd returned to Dallas had he been able to make his body react to another woman. Nearly every night he escorted a different woman to dinner, and when they ended the evening at her apartment.
Zap nothing, not a damn stirring of desire
.

A hot wet kiss, an ample breast in his hand and zilch, nada.
His body refused to respond
. It was becoming damn embarrassing and it also infuriated him the hell out of him.
What had the wild little witch done to him
? He stopped pacing and dragging his fingers through his hair and stared out the glass doors at the millions of lights glowing. He snarled and dropped his hand down to his side, he would give it one more shot. Tomorrow night, he would take out another woman and pray like hell that he could find some desire for her.