Taste of Passion (Madaris Novels) (7 page)

“Why do you want to know?” she finally asked him.

“Just curious.”

She absolutely hated being one of those people who couldn’t accept things at face value. And with his comment, she didn’t. There had to be a reason other than plain old curiosity that was driving him to dig into her personal business. But still, this time she would do something she had stopped doing with other men and that was to give him the benefit of the doubt and believe it was just curiosity like he said.

“The reason I’m not involved in a serious relationship is probably the same reason you aren’t,” she said as a smile touched her lips.

“And what do you think is my reason?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.

“You haven’t yet met that one person who’s worthy enough to become the center of your world. That one person you can trust implicitly, love unconditionally.”

He chuckled. “I don’t think such a person exists for me.”

“And I don’t believe one exists for me either.” And then under her breath she added, “At least not anymore.”

Her words hadn’t been low enough for him not to hear, and he asked, “But you did at one time?”

“Yes, but it was an incorrect assumption on my part, one I won’t make again. I learned a lesson in doing that the hard way.” Deciding she’d told him enough, even possibly too much, she decided to steer him to another subject. “How are the rest of your family doing?”

He gave her a look that said he was well aware of what she was doing. “Last I heard everyone was fine. As you know I’m on the road a lot so I don’t get to go home as often as I’d like. Slade and Blade keep me informed of anything important.”

“You didn’t make it home for the christening of Alex and Christy’s baby.”

He nodded. “No, and I hate having missed it. I was doing
a rodeo in Florida that same day, but I understand you were there.”

She lifted a brow. “How would you know that?”

“Blade mentioned it.”

She couldn’t help wondering why Blade would mention anything about her to him. A lot of people had been there that day, so why was she singled out? The Madarises were well known and had a slew of friends, and it was one of those get-togethers that drew practically everyone, including famous movie star Sterling Hamilton all the way from Hollywood, and Sheikh Rasheed Valdemon from the Middle East.

She sighed. Maybe she hadn’t gotten singled out after all and her name was just one of many Blade had mentioned to him. Luke had gone back to eating his pie, and she could tell he was getting tired. “Don’t you think we should go to bed?”

He lifted his head, met her gaze, and held it. “I don’t know. Should we?”

Too late she realized what she’d said and how it sounded. But he knew what she had meant. “What I meant to insinuate is that you should be the one in bed.”

He glanced over at the clock on the wall. “It’s late. Both of us should be in bed. Separate ones, of course.”

“Of course. But I still have plenty of things to take care of tonight. Since most of my men don’t work on the weekends, I meet with Theo Graves, my foreman, a couple of times of week to make sure things are running smoothly. Your uncle Jake is using some of my land to expand the breeding program for his Red Brangus cattle.”

“I heard. How is that working out?”

“Great. The partnership between us has been wonderful. Around five of his men work here to assure everything is done as per Jake’s specifications.”

Luke stirred his coffee and said, “I don’t doubt that.”

She chuckled. “He’s pretty intense when it comes to the quality of his beef.”

“Always has been. Jake is not only one hell of a financial advisor, he’s also a businessman extraordinaire. The man is simply brilliant and I’m not saying that because he’s my uncle.”

Mackenzie nodded. “What was it like growing up as Jake’s nephew? I’m sure you get asked that a lot.”

“I do. Growing up I always thought my uncle was bigger than life, and now that he’s married to Diamond, all I can say is, wow!”

A grin touched Mackenzie’s lips. She fully understood. The former Diamond Swain was still the most sought-after movie star in Hollywood and her beauty was so vivid, it was past the point of stunning. Men drooled after her. Women both adored and envied her. She was respected by many for her charity work. And when she had married wealthy Texas rancher Jake Madaris, it was the marriage dreams were made of. Somehow they had managed to keep their marriage a secret from the media for almost two years. Mackenzie thought whenever she saw them together that not only did she see a power couple, but also two beautiful people who were perfectly matched and deeply in love. You could just feel the love radiating from them. After her marriage to Jake, Diamond had stopped making movies and just concentrated on being Jake’s wife. Now two children later, Diamond on occasion returned the spotlight but only to work with her close friend actor/producer Sterling Hamilton.

“But seriously, I owe most of what I know to Uncle Jake. I told you how he helped to convince my parents about me following my dream. Well, Uncle Jake is also the person who let me know it was okay to dream and that if you worked hard enough you could make your dream come true. I think he knew I wanted to get into the rodeo before I did. He’s the one who taught me how to ride my first horse and rope my first calf.”

Mackenzie sipped her coffee while listening to him. “Is it true that your cousin Clayton is the only one in
the family who doesn’t know how to ride a horse?” she asked.

Luke grinned as he stood up from the table with his plate in his hand. “Clayton knows how to ride a horse, he just doesn’t like doing it. I heard it was because he was thrown once, but according to Clayton that never happened.”

He stared at her for a moment before saying, “I’m going to take a couple of those pain pills and then I’m off to bed for the night. Don’t say up too late.”

“I won’t, and I’ll probably be gone when you get up in the morning. Everything you’ll need in the kitchen should be easy to find. If something comes up, my work number is keyed into my phone as number four. Just try and get some rest tomorrow.”

“I will.”

As she watched him leave after he placed his plate and cup in the sink, she hoped he’d take her advice and get some rest. He was determined to compete in the Reno rodeo, which meant his body needed to heal—but it needed to heal properly. She didn’t want to imagine what might happen if he participated in an event and he wasn’t one hundred percent well. What if . . .

She sucked in a deep breath. “The last thing I need to do is care too much,” she murmured out loud. “Luke is a grown man and is free to do whatever he wants.”

But still, she couldn’t deny that the thought of him getting injured again bothered her.

Hours later, Luke lay in bed wide awake. His body was numb because of the pain pills he’d taken but he hadn’t been able to drift off to sleep. He turned his head and glanced over at the illuminated clock on the nightstand. It was almost midnight and he knew that Mackenzie was still up. He couldn’t help wondering what kind of case she was working on that would keep her up so late. Maybe tomorrow he would get her to talk about it.

In fact, he couldn’t help wondering about Mackenzie, period.

She wasn’t involved with anyone seriously; he had pretty much confirmed that but he still wanted to know why. From the remark she’d made, the one she’d probably preferred he not hear, he could only assume the parting between her and the last guy she’d been seeing had not ended well. He couldn’t help wondering what had gone wrong. Men didn’t easily give up women who looked like Mackenzie. And it wasn’t just her looks. It was evident that she was smart and intelligent. The man probably had a few screws loose, definitely wasn’t operating with a full deck. But still, five years was a long time not to get back into the swing of things, get your life back together and move on. Had she loved the guy so much that whatever he’d done had scarred her for life? Was she even capable of falling in love again?

And why am I losing sleep over it?

He shifted in bed the same moment his cell phone went off and he quickly reached up and retrieved it off the nightstand.“Hello.”

“I thought I would check with you one more time before calling it a night.”

Luke smiled when he recognized the voice. It was his cousin Slade. They had talked earlier that day before he had left the hospital. “Thanks, but I’m fine. Experienced a few painful moments earlier today, but that was because I hadn’t taken my medicine the way the doctor instructed. Mac almost chewed my head off about it.”

“I’m glad she’s taking that approach, Luke. We want you well.”

Luke laughed. “Hey, I want myself well. I still plan on competing in Reno in September.”

“That’s pushing it, man, but if anyone can do it, you can.”

“Yep, and I don’t plan to lose focus,” Luke said.

“It was nice of Mac to put you up for a few weeks. According to Blade, Aunt Carrie and Mama Laverne are happy
with the arrangement. They think Mac has everything under control, which means they won’t have to go to Oklahoma.”

“Glad they think that way,” Luke said, grinning. “How’s Skye?”

“Skye is doing fine. She just went off to bed a short while ago, leaving me up to finish the paperwork on this project we’re about to bid on. It’s a new outlet mall in Dallas.”

They talked for several more moments before Slade ended the call by saying he and Skye would be joining Blade and coming to see him that weekend. Luke was staring up at the ceiling trying to find sleep when he heard the door to the bedroom open and he immediately picked up on Mackenzie’s scent.

He closed his eyes pretending to be sleep and knew the exact moment she came to stand beside his bed. And then he felt her fingertips feather across his forehead to check his temperature. To his way of thinking, if he didn’t have a temperature before, he probably had one now with the heat invading his body from her touch. It was taking all he could do not to groan out loud when the heat trailed lower, going straight to his groin.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, it seemed the entire bed was suddenly sweltering and he was tempted to kick back the covers. A part of him wanted to grab hold of her hand and push it away and another part wanted to hold it there, pressed to his skin.

Then she pulled her hand away, stepped back from the bed, and left the room. He opened his eyes when the door closed shut behind her, feeling an acute moment of loss with her departure. Luke wondered what the reason for it was. The only answer he could come up with was that because of the time he had spent training for the rodeo, he’d neglected having a social life lately, although until now he hadn’t really missed one.

He wasn’t sure what else it could be, and he sure didn’t know what he could do about it. Nothing, he quickly decided, since he wasn’t in shape to pursue his sexual needs
with any woman, even if he’d wanted to do so. But still, there was something about Mackenzie’s care and concern for him that he found touching. And for that reason he couldn’t help but wonder about the man who undoubtedly had broken her heart.

“Okay, Mac, stop trying to hold back and tell us about that hunk who’s living under your roof.”

Mackenzie glanced across her desk at the two women who stood there. She knew if she wanted to get any work done she’d have to answer their question so they’d leave her office. Sam and Peyton were two of her closest friends and had been since college when they had shared an apartment for four years. Of the three, Mac considered herself the least outgoing, probably because she’d been an only child and seldom interacted with other kids. This was especially true while she was living on the reservation after her parents’ death. Even while living in Boston with her aunt she hadn’t had many friends.

She loved the two women like sisters and had appreciated their support when things with Lawrence had turned sour. Although they had planned to work together after college, it hadn’t happened. She had gotten an offer from that law firm in Louisiana and it had been too good to pass up. After seeing she was fighting a losing battle, Sam had given in to her filthy rich family and had gone back to New York to work at her family’s law firm there. Peyton, who had grown up on the Southside of Chicago, had wanted to return home and work in the community as an attorney for neighborhood economic development. They always kept in touch and tried to get together for fun and relaxation at least once a year for a weekend of beauty—Sam’s idea—at a day spa.

When Mackenzie had made the decision to leave Louisiana, Sam and Peyton had been ready to move on to other things as well. Using the money she had received from her trust fund, Sam had financed the mortgage on the perfect building in downtown Oklahoma City for the three of them. That had been almost five years ago and now after a very humble beginning, they were considered one of the top-notch law firms in Oklahoma, often championing those who’d been taken advantage of by major corporations, as with the case Mackenzie was presently working on—Coroni versus the Whitedyer Corporation.

Not surprisingly, it was Sam who was doing the talking and as usual Peyton was holding up the rear, taking everything in. Mackenzie would answer their questions, but not before giving them a hard time for the interruption.