His insolence was like a splash of cold water. A scant few minutes ago, she’d been on the verge of giving herself to this man. Now her only inclination was to put her fist firmly against his nose with the highest velocity she could muster. The combined emotions of frustration and humiliation propelled her anger to the surface.
Pushing past him, she almost ran down the stairs.
When she pulled open the heavy barn door, she found Hank holding the lead shank attached to a halter placed on one of the older geldings.
“Figured he might come with you,” Hank explained. “Ole Crusty here looks like he just might keel over any minute. A city feller wouldn’t know the difference.” Shea smiled and nodded. “Was I convincin’? Did I do okay?”
“Yeah.” She nodded her approval as she walked toward the old horse. “You did good, Hank.”
Her plan had worked. The timing could have been a little better, but even so, good enough. So why wasn’t she bouncing-off-the-walls deliriously happy? Why did she feel so incomplete? In all honesty, she had to admit deep down a part of her regretted the interruption.
Alec knew a woman’s body. He knew exactly where to touch, precisely how to kiss and just what to do to make a female respond to him. To make her respond to him. From the beginning, she’d sensed he would be highly skilled in bed, but she’d never envisioned finding out firsthand. She could still taste him, could feel his hard body against hers. His masculine scent was heavy on her skin. The fire he’d lit still burned, refusing to die out. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she sat down on a bale of hay and rubbed her forehead in an attempt to clear her mind. But the remembrance of what had happened—of what had almost happened—stubbornly wouldn’t go away.
“Missy, are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Hank removed his hat and scratched his head, which left his thinning gray hair in a tousled mess on top of his head, then replaced his timeworn hat.
“Absolutely.” She smiled bravely, confidently at the old cowboy. But she knew she was lying through her teeth.
Alec watched as Shea almost ran down the stairs. He raked his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. It had been too close. Three minutes, maybe less, and their bodies would have been locked in the most intimate act that could happen between two people and nothing on this earth would have made him let her go. He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d allowed the situation to escalate as far as it had and he wasn’t certain how to prevent it in the future.
The plan had been to frighten her with an overload of sexual intimidation, come on so hard and heavy that she’d run like a scared rabbit. But instead of running, instead of saying, Okay, you win, I’ll leave, she had looked up at him with those damned amazing blue eyes and silently begged him not to hurt her, pleaded with him to give her time. And in that instant, with her enticing lips a mere breath away, and those eyes imploring him to understand, he’d made a choice. And that choice had almost irrevocably changed everything.
He couldn’t remember ever losing control or being blindsided by the aura of a sexy woman. But this time his strength of will had flown out the window and he’d almost sacrificed everything for a young woman from the back woods of Texas with big blue eyes and one hell of a game plan. So much for his ironclad resolve.
He had to get out of here, at least for a while. Let things cool down and give himself time to regain his perspective, to reformulate his plan. With a grimace, he turned and walked toward the bathroom and a cold shower.
The sun was just peeking over the distant hills when Shea quietly made her way back to the house. The romantics of the world could say all they wanted about sleeping on a soft bed of hay. In truth, it was prickly and itchy and its stiff, needlelike projections could poke through even the thickest blanket right into your skin. She hadn’t had a good night. But the few hours of restless sleep had been enough to restore her sanity. In the light of day, she knew the outcome of the previous night could have been much worse.
She could have made love to Alec.
She could be lying in that bed right now with his big, muscled arms securely around her, drowsy in the aftermath of their lovemaking. Feeling— Stop! With a muttered oath, Shea pulled open the back door.
When she entered the kitchen, to her surprise, Alec was already there dressed in dark slacks, a clean white dress shirt and tie. He looked disgustingly well-rested.
“Looks like you had a good night,” he said, reaching out to pull some straw from her tangled hair. “You give an entirely new meaning to a roll in the hay. Sleep well, did you?” His mouth twitched in amusement as he gestured to the pot of fresh coffee.
Shea ignored his jibes, opened the cabinet and selected a mug. If he expected her to make any comment about what happened last night—or what hadn’t happened—he could hold his breath until he turned blue.
She couldn’t help noticing the way his shirt did little to hide the muscles of his arm as he lifted his cup to his mouth, or the way his full lips opened against the rounded edge of the mug as he sipped the steaming coffee. She quickly turned away as unsettling sensations began to send surges of heat through her veins.
“I need to return home for a few days,” Alec said as she reached for the coffee. “I understand this might be viewed as deserting my wife on our honeymoon, but I’m afraid it can’t be helped. As far as the contract, I don’t recall any stipulation that I never leave the boundaries of the land, only that I ensure your protection from any and all perils. If you think you’ll be safe for a few days—” his sarcasm was apparent “—I need clothes. And I need to make some arrangements. Do our attorneys need to become involved with this?”
In spite of the temptation to try to deny Alec the time he needed, she knew it wouldn’t be right. And there was nothing in the contract to prevent him from leaving the property.
“No. But I wouldn’t bother packing a lot of clothes. You won’t be here long enough to need them.”
At least his trip would give her the time she needed to form a better plan to make him leave permanently. With any luck, he wouldn’t come back at all.
He watched her guardedly. “Want to come with me?”
“No, thank you,” she quickly responded. “I’ve got things I need to see to here.”
“I’m sure you do,” he replied, tongue in cheek. “How’s the horse?”
“The horse?” she frowned. It took a few seconds before she remembered the “sick” horse in the barn. “Oh. Fine. Good.” She looked down at her mug and away from the scrutiny of those amber eyes, knowing she was incapable of telling a convincing lie. “I expect he’ll make a full recovery.”
“Oh, I have no doubt.”
Alec walked to the counter where she stood and reached around her to place his cup in the sink. “Call a local furniture store and have them send out a larger bed. Get an entire suite if you like.”
The surprise must have shown on her face.
“Is money a problem?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But a larger bed won’t fit into that room.”
“Then have it put in a larger room.” He cocked his head. “There is a larger bedroom, isn’t there?”
“Yes, but...”
Alec watched her reaction. “But what?”
There were in fact three bedrooms upstairs. But moving into the master indicated a permanency she did not want. She just wished he would stay wherever it was he was going and let her life return to normal.
“Nothing.” She shook her head. “How long will you be away?” She didn’t want to ask. To do so might imply she cared. But she had to prepare for his return.
“A few days. Possibly a week. I can’t be sure. Why? Will you miss me?”
She snorted and took a sip of her coffee.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before his head dipped toward her and his lips found hers. It was instinct rather than conscious thought that made her open to him. He deepened the embrace, kissing her thoroughly but briefly. Then, raising his head, he broke the contact but remained close.
“You’re going to lose,” Alec whispered. “But this challenge is becoming more interesting by the minute. I look forward to the next round.”
Her expression strengthened into a cold glare. But before she could respond in kind, he turned and walked out the door.
The large private jet sliced through the white clouds en route back to Dallas from New York LaGuardia. After a week of reflection, Alec was no closer to finding a concrete plan that would ensure he maintained control of the bizarre situation.
So far, the only thing guaranteed to work was avoiding her altogether. But not only would that not serve his objective, it was not something he was willing to do.
He glanced at the child, asleep on the small bed across the aisle. This morning, when he’d picked up his bag and prepared to leave for the airport, he’d seen Scotty peeking around the corner of the kitchen doorway. He’d walked over to his son, lifted the four-year-old into his arms and given in to the overwhelming need to hold him close.
“Are you gonna be gone a long time?”
Alec had given him a regretful smile. “Maybe not too long this time.”