Wildfire (5 page)

❧

Tanner walked slowly up the steps and opened the door. Then, instead of going inside, he turned and leaned against the doorjamb, looking out across the land.

His house, the place he had called home since he was sixteen years old, was a small, nondescript cabin at the very back of the McCallister property. Before moving here, he had stayed in a bedroom off the kitchen at the big house. It had taken him almost two months to convince Joe that he was old enough to live by himself, but eventually he had done it. Tanner could be just as stubborn as the old man when he wanted to be.

Nineteen years and Tanner still loved it out here. He loved the isolation, the uncluttered freedom. And most of the time the distant view, the view he was gazing at now, brought him a measure of peace.

But not tonight. Tonight the demons inside Tanner were running wild.

It happened sometimes. He would stand watching darkness grow across the land and would feel it growing inside him as well. Darkness and a hot, restless spirit that boiled through his insides.

When he was younger, he had used whiskey to chase the mood away, but it hadn't taken him long to figure out that alcohol merely made the bad times last longer. Riding it out was the only way.

He had intended to go up to the big house later for a poker game, but he knew he wouldn't. It would be better for everyone if he was alone tonight.

Turning away from the shadowy landscape, he closed the door behind him with a little shove and stripped off his shirt, dropping it on the floor as he headed for the shower.

It had been a long, hot, dusty day and the night didn't look as though it was getting any better.

❧

Rae stepped from her car and stood looking across it toward the house. Then, drawing in a deep breath, she began to move, around the car, across the bare yard, and up three unpainted wooden steps.

At the door she hesitated, and several seconds passed before she finally straightened her back and raised her hand to knock.

At her first tap the wooden door swung open under her hand. Across the threshold, it was dark. Dark and silent. Empty. Tanner wasn't home.

A small laugh escaped her. For two solid hours she had been worrying, arguing silently, trying to build up enough courage to come out here. And now he wasn't home.

Leaning forward, she grasped the knob to pull the door shut. But somehow, when the door closed, she was on the wrong side, inside his house instead of on her way back to the car.

Rae had never been a nosy person. She held a great respect for the privacy of the individual, but there was something about being given the chance to inspect the lair of Dicton's lone wolf that was too compelling for her to resist.

The cabin was one big open space. Kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and bedroom all came together in a single living area. And although the sides were more window than wall, there was not a curtain to be seen. Unhampered moonlight silvered the area, giving relief from the darkness, hinting at mysterious shapes and surfaces.

The room was a mess. Clothes on the floor and on chairs. Newspapers scattered across the couch and falling off the massive stone coffee table. His bed—extra long, extra wide, and minus a headboard—was unmade, the cover hanging half on and half off as though it had been flung impatiently aside.

Stacks of paperback books covered the top of the bedside table and, moving closer, Rae picked up one and held it to a stream of moonlight, curious to see what a man like Tanner West chose to read.

Contrary to her expectations, the book she held wasn't something with erotic illustrations. It was Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure. And there were Steinbeck, Thoreau, and Faulkner. Not-a single—

In the next instant Rae's breath left her in a soft whoosh as she was caught around the waist and thrown back onto the bed.

When a solid weight settled on top of her, she fought instinctively. With her heart pounding in her ears and her breath coming in short gasps, she struggled wildly against the shadowy force that held her down. And as she fought, as she pushed and twisted, her hands came up against warm, damp flesh. Hard, naked flesh.

Tanner was home after all.

"Lonely, Rae?" The words were a rasping whisper against her left ear. "Tired of dusty dreams? I thought I wanted to be alone tonight." She felt his laughter in the tips of her fingers, in her palms, and on her cheek. "Just shows how a person never really knows his own mind."

"Don't be an idiot," she said, breathless, as she continued to try to push him off her. "I came out here to—"

"—to visit the wicked side of life? Turnabout's fair play. I took a trip to the land of the good. Now you get to see how the other half lives. The half that goes to sleep satisfied." His voice grew even huskier as his lips brushed across the side of her neck. "Tell me your fantasies, Rae. Tell me and I'll make them happen."

When he shifted his position slightly, his lower body moved against hers, bringing a sharp twinge of awareness that surged through her, startling her.

"Tanner . . . get off!" she gasped.

He moved his chin in a rough caress at the base of her throat. "Or maybe it would be better if I helped you out. I don|t want to hurt your feelings, Rae, but I'm afraid your fantasies might be a little on the dull side. How about I list the possibilities for you? All you have to do is stop me when I get to the one that turns you on."

Again silent laughter shook him. "Put your missionary-position past right out of your mind, sweetness, because tonight you're going to find out what it's all about. For starters, we could try an erotic little exercise I learned back when—"

Gathering all her strength, Rae pushed again, and suddenly, unexpectedly, she was free.

Scrambling from the bed, she began to straighten her blouse and smooth down her skirt. "This was a mistake," she muttered in irritation. "Why didn't I know it would be a mistake? But I did. Of course I did. I knew it was a mistake, and I came out here anyway. Of all the stupid—"

She broke off when the lamp beside the bed flashed on, momentarily blinding her.

As her eyes adjusted, she kept her gaze carefully away from him and glanced around the room. Surprisingly, beneath the clutter his house was clean. It was an attractive room, with cream walls and smooth lines to the furniture. But something was missing. Tanner's personality was missing. There were no pictures on the walls. No bric-a-brac or plants. Not even a dusty old artificial flower arrangement. There were none of the little personal touches that made a house a home. The cabin's living space had a temporary feel to it, as though the occupant were simply marking time until he could move back to where he really belonged.

Drawing in a slow breath, she turned her attention to Tanner. He was standing to the right and slightly behind her. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there. She sensed it, the way a deer could sense the presence of a mountain lion.

Biting her lip, she dipped her head and shot a cautious glance in his direction.

He wasn't naked. At least not completely. He wore the usual faded jeans, but tonight the top three metal buttons were unfastened so that they hung dangerously low on his hips. Moving her gaze away from that disturbing triangle of flesh, she raised her head and found him studying her face.

"Well, that was fun," he said, the words slow and lazy. "But something tells me you didn't come all the way out here to provide entertainment for a tired man. So what's up?"

She wasn't quite as good at ignoring his bare skin as she had hoped. "Do up your jeans," she said shortly, glancing away from the sight of him.

"Too tempting?" He laughed as he fastened the buttons. "There, is that better? I'm afraid this is as decent as I get. And I repeat, what's up?"

It was time. This was what she had come here for. All she had to do was ask. All she had to do was say the words. If she could just manage to get the first few words out of her mouth, the rest would surely follow.

But she couldn't.

By pulling up hidden reserves, Rae had found the courage to make the decision, and she had found the courage to come out here, but when it came to actually saying the words aloud, she simply couldn't.

Shaking her head, she turned and walked toward the door. "Never mind. I'm sorry I barged in on you." She pulled the door open without looking at him. "Just forget I was here."

In the next moment she found her arm caught in an iron grasp. "Oh no, you don't," he said, swinging her back around as he slammed the door shut with one foot. "You can't come out here, disrupting my peaceful evening, and then say never mind."

He leaned against the door and folded his arms on his chest. "Besides, you've got me curious now. For the past two years you've spent most of your time avoiding me. So why did you go out of your way to track me down tonight?"

Exhaling a slow, careful breath, she brushed a curl from her forehead and glanced away from him. "Promise you won't tease me?"

"No." There was open amusement in his voice. "Teasing you is one of the few pleasures I have in life. You walked into my territory, now you have to pay the price. Tell me why you're here."

Moistening her lips, she edged sideways to put some distance between them. "You know how it is, sometimes when you're alone, and tired .. . and maybe dissatisfied with your life, your mind goes off in strange directions."

Suddenly impatient with her own cowardice, she raised her chin and said, "Most of what you say to me I manage to ignore. Because most of what you say to me is stupid, and I know that needling me . . . amuses you. But there is one thing you said that I believe."

"Only one?" He raised a dark brow. "I must be slipping. I used to be a better liar than that."

"I believe that if anyone could teach me to be—" She broke off and cleared her throat again. "If anyone could teach me how to be hot, it's you."

Exhaling a slow breath, she raised her head and met his eyes. "Okay, now you can laugh."

But Tanner wasn't laughing. He wasn't even smiling. A frown etched deep creases between his dark brows as he stared at her.

A moment later he pushed away from the door and walked to a window near the bed. "You want me to—" He broke off and shook his head.

"In all fairness, you did make the offer," she reminded him stiffly. "It doesn't matter that you offered simply to annoy me. The fact is, if anyone can do it, you can." She moved her shoulders in a short shrug. "So that's why I'm here, to ask you if you'll teach me how to attract Drew's attention."

When he didn't respond, she slid damp palms over the sides of her skirt. "It should give you some satisfaction to know you were right about me. Except that what you call repression is really ignorance. I didn't have to learn how to grab a man's attention. I always had Johnny. From the time I was a little girl, I knew I was going to marry him. There was no need for teenage flirtations and things like that. I may be starting late, but I'm not stupid. I can learn . . . that is, if you'll agree to help me."

"Forget it." His voice was rough and emphatic, his face still turned toward the darkness outside. "Read a book, take a course, make friends with a call girl. But forget about me. I'm not the altruistic type."

She nodded slowly. "Okay . .. okay, that's fair. There's no reason why you should do me a favor. What do you think is a fair price?"

This got his attention. He turned to look at her, one dark brow raised in inquiry. "You want me to teach you how to be a woman," he said, his gaze sliding over her body. "And you're going to pay me to do it?"

He gave a short, almost soundless laugh and began to move toward her. "I'll have to give this some heavy thought. Definitely intriguing. I knew a guy once whose father took him to a hooker when he was sixteen. Said she would teach him to be a man. Interesting parallel, don't you think?"

She watched him silently, knowing that he was taunting her, that he was deliberately trying to antagonize her, but fascinated against her will by the seductive quality of his voice and the blatant sensuality in his movements as he slowly closed the distance between them.

Taking an involuntary step backward, she said, "I didn't mean to imply that you .. . well, that you—"

"Could be bought?" he suggested as he moved even closer. "That's exactly what you meant to imply. And as it happens, you were right. Under certain circumstances, I can be bought."

"Tanner, this is ridiculous. Just—"

She broke off when she backed into the door. A moment later, as his eyes caught and held hers, he reached out and unfastened the wide clip at the back of her neck. Although Rae caught her breath in surprise, she did nothing to stop him. She simply stood staring into his eyes as he ran his fingers through her hair, loosening it, freeing the curls.

"Oh yes." The words were low and husky. "I will definitely have to give this more thought."

He was trying to make her angry. He was playing with her again so that she would lose her temper and lash out at him as she had always done in the past. But it didn't happen. Instead of anger, his touch brought a different response.

When Tanner freed her hair, she felt as though other things were being freed as well. Things inside her. Secret things.

This man was a danger to her. The thought came to her from nowhere, so forceful that she felt stupid for not having seen it before.

She didn't like Tanner, but liking him wasn't necessary. She had a goal, and he was just the man to help her achieve it. He would teach her a few superficial tricks, tell her what she was doing wrong. Only then would she be able to attract Drew and take the first step toward having the family she so desperately wanted.

She had never even stopped to consider the possibility diat Tanner might reach places inside her that no one had ever reached before. Not even Johnny.

"I'll do it."

The words broke abruptly into her thoughts, and she glanced quickly around the room.

He had moved again and now stood several feet away from her, outside the light thrown by the single lamp, but even though she couldn't see him clearly, she could still feel the heat of his intense concentration.

Blinking in confusion, she said, "I beg your pardon?"

"I said I'll do it. I'll teach you how to use your natural ability. Show you what it takes to get a man to notice you. And there will be no charge."

"Oh." The word was hesitant, slightly breathless.

This was what she wanted, what she had come here to accomplish. But his sudden about-face took her off-guard. Compliance from Tanner made her extremely nervous.

"Why?" she asked, unable to keep the suspicion from her voice. "What do you get out of it? What do you want from me in return?"

He didn't answer immediately. Layers of shadow still obscured his features, and she had only the impression of dark, deep-set eyes trained on her with such fierce strength that it made her knees weak.