Texas Temptation (6 page)

“Well,” Myrna said, lifting her chin, “I certainly never meant to imply that it wasn't a
good
thing. I just don't understand why Jared wants to risk everything for this project. Especially after I've offered him such a generous amount for the land. Daddy says—”

“What
do
I say, Myrna?”

Annie glanced at the silver-haired distinguished-looking man who had moved beside Myrna. His intense brown eyes settled on Annie and he smiled broadly.

“You must be Annie,” he said and offered a hand. “I'm Myrna's father, Carlton Hewitt.”

Annie took his hand. It was cool to the touch, and she felt a strength that surprised her for a man his age. “How do you do.”

“I was just saying that Jared would be better off selling the land now,” Myrna went on. “Everyone knows that oil drilling is risky. Hardly a sound investment.”

“And I suppose that building a six-thousand-square-foot mansion in the middle of nowhere is your idea of a sound investment,” Jared said tightly.

“It was, until J.T. left me with no land,” she complained. “And if you—”

“Leave the boy be,” Carlton said good-naturedly to his daughter. “A man has to do what he has to do. And Annie here must have thought the project a good one, or she wouldn't have allowed her company to back it. Would you, Annie?”

Annie felt an uneasiness as Carlton looked at her. “It's a viable project, Mr. Hewitt. The figures are extremely promising.”

Carlton smiled. “Well, then, Jared, all my best to you. And as much as my daughter wants this, I'm afraid she'll just have to find herself land somewhere else.”

“I don't want land somewhere else.” Myrna pouted. “I have a beautiful home I love and I have no intention of leaving. Jake and Jared won't even part with a few hundred acres. Not to mention Jessica. I've offered her a fair sum for her parcel, and she insists on converting that old town into a children's camp, for heaven's sake. It's simply not safe for a young woman to move out there by herself with all those construction workers.”

Two sets of deep blue male eyes turned toward Jessica.

“What's she talking about?” both Jake and Jared said at the same time.

Savannah took Emma's hand. “Time to go check on the ice cream,” she said, slipping away.

Jessica's eyes narrowed with irritation as she stared at Myrna. “And how did you come across that information?”

“Your landlady, Mrs. Wimple, told me that you'd given one months' notice, and Mr. Barret at the building department mentioned you'd applied for a permit. Oh, dear.” Myrna's expression of concern was almost comical. “Was this a secret, dear?”

“God forbid there'd be a secret in this town,” Jessica muttered, then turned to smile weakly at her brothers. They scowled fiercely. “I was going to tell you,” she insisted.

Annie watched as the three of them began to argue in earnest over Jessica going out to her ghost town by herself. Myrna had certainly done it again, Annie thought with disgust.

When someone yelled that there was a phone call for Jessica, she mumbled something about being saved by the bell and quickly disappeared. Carlton slipped an arm around his daughter and suggested they both freshen their drinks before Myrna could start in again.

“Jessie's not going out there by herself,” Jake said flatly when Myrna and her father were gone.

“No way in hell,” Jared agreed.

Annie smiled to herself. Something told her that no matter how determined the two men were, Jessica was equally determined. It would be interesting to see who won, she thought with amusement.

Except I won't be here to see it,
she reminded herself, and she felt a heaviness in her chest so profound she had to take a few deep breaths.

Jake was pulled away then by three little girls begging to start the piñata. She and Jared were left alone. They stood there for a long moment, both of them glancing around the room, feeling strangely awkward. She took a sip of her soda, but the liquid felt dry as it slid down her throat.

A man bumped her from behind, and she turned as he apologized. When she turned back, she caught Jared's gaze skimming over her. Her pulse skipped at the look of pure male hunger she saw in his eyes. He looked quickly away.

Dammit, Jared, don't look at me like that, then turn away!

She heard a loud whack, then the shrieks of little girls. She wondered if they'd accept a live male, instead of a piñata.

“Did you get Slater settled in town?” she asked, groping for conversation.

Yeah,
Jared thought irritably.
And he talked about you all night.
Jared had already decided he was going to have to keep a close eye on his foreman and Miss Annie Bailey. Not that he didn't trust Slater completely, he just thought it would be a good idea if the man didn't get sidetracked.

And now, as he looked at Annie, he realized
he
was the one getting sidetracked. The dress she had on was pure femininity: long and swirling around her shapely legs, quite sheer but concealing enough to hide what was necessary. She'd tucked the sides of her hair up with gold clips, and the glossy rose-colored lipstick she wore kept whispering at him to stare at her mouth.

“What about you?” he said, tearing his gaze away from her. “How're you doing with the map?”

“It's coming along. I just need a little more time.”

They lapsed into a strained silence again. Annie cleared her throat, and he could tell her smile was forced. “I think I'll go see if Savannah can use some help.”

He took hold of her arm as she started to turn away. They both felt the jolt and their eyes met. “Annie, I... You look—”

“Jared!” someone yelled from across the room. “Jessica says she needs to talk to you pronto in Jake's office.”

At that second, Jared wasn't sure whether to thank his sister or throttle her. He'd almost told Annie how beautiful she was. How glad he was she was here. This was the second time Jessica had “saved” him from stepping over the line he'd drawn when it came to Annie.

That was what he wanted, wasn't it? To keep his distance from her? And even if it wasn't what he wanted, it was the way it had to be.

He dropped his hand from Annie's arm and his fingers felt cold and empty. Hell,
he
felt cold and empty.

Whatever it was that his sister wanted, it had better be good.

He moved away from Annie, felt her gaze follow him as he left the room. He was silently cursing when he walked into the office.

Jessica was on the phone, raking her fingers through her hair as she spoke. “I'm on my way, Mrs. James. Yes, I'll find him, don't worry. I'll see you in thirty minutes.”

Jared frowned as he closed the door behind him. “What's the matter?”

“Jared, I'm sorry, but one of my kids from the youth group has run away. I'm sure he'll show up, but I've got to get over to his house and calm his mother down.” She grabbed her purse and dug for her keys. “I don't know when I'll be back, so you're going to have to take Annie home for me.”

“But—”

She kissed him on the cheek and was out the door. “Thanks, big brother, I knew you wouldn't mind,” she called over her shoulder.

He stood there, struck by the force of his tornado sister and stared at the open door.
Oh, no.
He closed his eyes and swore softly. It was a long drive into town. Forty-five minutes long.

Dammit, dammit, dammit.

He took a deep breath and walked back out to the party. Annie was standing in a corner, talking to Sam McCants, who owned the ranch next to Jake's. Jared remembered Jake's being crazy with jealousy when Sam had turned his attention on Savannah. Now, Jared realized as he watched Annie laugh at something Sam said, it was
his
turn to feel crazy.

And he also realized that forty-five minutes with Annie, alone, late at night, was forty-four minutes and thirty seconds longer than he could handle without making him want things he couldn't have.

* * *

They drove to town with the truck windows rolled down. It was warm, and the air, heavy with the scent of sage, rippled through the cab. The headlights lit the dark deserted highway, but the moon was so bright that lights were hardly necessary.

“Jared, really, you didn't need to drive me back to town,” Annie protested for the third time since they'd left the party. “There must have been someone else headed in my direction.”

“I told you it's no problem,” Jared said flatly. If he'd been left alone to consume the amount of liquor he'd wanted to it might have been a problem, but Jake had dragged him off to help with games before he'd even had a chance to finish one beer.

He flipped on the radio, and a country ballad about a lonely bedroom and empty pillows filled the cab. He quickly snapped the radio off again.

With a sigh, Annie leaned her head back against the seat and stared out the windshield. The silence stretched as long as the highway, and when she closed her eyes, Jared thought she might have fallen asleep.

He glanced at her, at the slender column of her neck and the smooth line of her jaw. A longing he couldn't suppress gripped his insides.
If only...

“Your sister-in-law is terrific,” Annie said, interrupting his thoughts. “Jonathan told me once what Jake's ex-wife put him through. I'm glad to see him so happy.”

It had been a rough time for Jake, Jared remembered. He and Jessica had felt so helpless.

“We thought he'd never settle down again,” Jared said. “It took a special lady like Savannah to set him straight.”

There was a long quiet pause. Annie turned slowly and opened her eyes.

“And what about you, Jared?” she said softly. “What kind of special woman is it going to take to set you straight?”

The cab suddenly felt like a fist closing around him. How the hell was he supposed to answer that?

The lights of town were quickly approaching. A few more minutes. That was all he needed to hold it together.

“I didn't know I needed straightening out,” he said lightly, trying to force a humor into his voice he certainly didn't feel.

He smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. She simply stared at him, not even bothering to brush away the strands of hair whispering over her face.

He pulled into the parking lot of the motel and cut the engine. He stared straight ahead, his hands still on the wheel.

“It's Jonathan, isn't it?” she said quietly. “He's the reason you haven't married. Why you aren't with someone. Because you won't allow yourself that happiness, will you?”

His fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

“Or is it just me?” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Do you look at me and think of Jonathan? Do you wish I would just go away so you wouldn't have to be reminded of him?”

When he didn't answer, she turned away and started to open the door. He reached out and took hold of her arm, then gently pulled her across the seat beside him. He looked down at her, and the moisture in her eyes only deepened the ache in his chest.

“I do think of Jonathan every time I look at you,” he said raggedly. “He's the one who deserves to be looking at you, to be touching you.” He closed his eyes and swallowed the bitter taste in his throat. “He's the one you should be with, Annie. Not me. Never me.”

She touched his cheek with her fingers, and he sucked in a deep breath at the gentle touch. “Jonathan is gone, Jared. Nothing can bring him back.”

He opened his eyes and watched as a tear slid down her cheek. “But you're here.” She lifted her face to his. “And so am I.”

His heart went still, then pounded so hard he thought his chest might explode. His fingers tightened on her arm.

I have to taste her. If only this one time...just one time....

He lowered his mouth to hers.

She met him, softly at first, and her sigh was like warm silk sliding over his jaw. It was the merest brush of lips, no more than a whisper, but it set his blood pounding in his veins. Sensation after sensation pulsed through him. Every nerve ending in his body became excruciatingly alive.

She opened to him, and the sweetness he found there made it impossible not to want more. He moaned deeply, a desperate mixture of need and despair. She pressed against him, sliding her fingers up his chest, burning his skin through the fabric of his shirt.

An urgency coursed through him, and he pulled her closer, slanting his mouth fiercely against hers again and again. She met the hot thrust of his tongue with her own and the whimper of need in her throat sent him over the edge.

Every primal instinct screamed at him that she was
his.
She belonged to him. He buried his hands in her hair, pulling her closer. She welcomed him, accepted him fully, and when his hand closed over her breast, she cried out, arching into him. His thumb slid over her hardened nipple, and she moved against him, gasping for breath.

He needed as he'd never needed before. Ached as he'd never ached before. His body demanded fulfillment, and he bent her backward onto the seat of the truck, covering her body with his, moving against her, spreading her thighs with his knee...

What the hell was he thinking?

Appalled at what he'd done, what he was about to do, he sat up quickly, pulling her up with him.

“Annie, my God...”

He sucked in a breath and dropped his hands from her. His body was on fire, his arousal to the point of pain. “Annie, I'm sorry.”

She stared at him, her passion-filled eyes wide with confusion. Slowly she eased away from him and combed her hair away from her face with her fingers. The look in her eyes was like a knife ripping him in two.

“I'm sorry, too, Jared.” She opened the door and slipped out, then stood outside the truck and leveled her gaze with his.

“You feel guilty because every time you look at me you see Jonathan's face,” she said heavily. “But you know why I feel guilty, Jared?”