"That works for me. You don't think, and you count this time spent with me as one of your 'aberrations' and pretend it never happened."
"But that's not fair to you."
He shrugged. "I'll be okay. I'm a tough guy."
She inhaled his warmth and the subtle pine scent of his shower gel. He was so beautiful . . .
"I'm scared, Blue."
"Of me?"
"Of how I feel."
He cupped her face in his hands. "Then that makes two of us." He bent his head and kissed her gently on the lips. "Maybe we could try and work this out together?"
She couldn't help but kiss him back. When he was close and when he touched her, she forgot everything except her desire for more of him, more kisses, more skin, more...
His hand slid up inside her T-shirt, and he groaned into her mouth. "God, I missed you so much."
He went back to kissing her, walking backward to sit on the edge of her bed. She followed him down, straddling his lap, the thin barrier of her panties the only thing keeping her away from the hard ridge of his jeans-covered erection. She rocked into him and his hand fisted in her hair.
"I want to be inside you right now, I want . . ."
She carefully unzipped him, cupping the heat and stretch of his cotton-clad shaft, rubbing her thumb over the wetness dampening the fabric. He groaned, pushing himself into her palm as she covered him, wiggled out of her panties, and slid down, taking him deep and hard.
He wrapped one arm low around her hips, controlling her motion, and drove upward in quick urgent thrusts, one thumb sliding over her most sensitive flesh until she came hard, startling her and making him curse and follow her over the edge.
His breathing was as ragged as hers as they remained locked together, his face buried against her shoulder as she gulped in some much-needed air. A strange buzzing sound reverberated against her thigh and she looked down to see Blue's pocket vibrating.
"Your phone."
"If it's important they'll leave a message or call back." He eased her away from him and she fell back on the bed. He rolled on top of her, his smile lazy, but also determined. "Round two?"
His phone buzzed again and then there was the ping of a text. Across the room where she'd plugged it in for the night, Jenna's phone started to ring as well.
"What the hell-?" Blue delved into his pocket and took out his cell. Jenna leapt off the bed to get to hers.
Downstairs a door banged, and there was the sound of booted feet running up the stairs.
"BB, are you there?" Dave yelled. "Ruth's desperate to get hold of you."
Jenna put on some clean panties and wiggled into her jeans as Blue set himself to rights.
"What's wrong?" Jenna asked Blue.
"I've got to get back, Maria's not in her bed."
Jenna opened the door to Dave. "He got the message. He's coming, okay?"
Dave made a face. "I could make a terrible joke about that, but considering what's going on, I won't." He looked over her head at Blue. "Do you want me to come and help?"
"I'll let you know." His eyes were blazing and his mouth hard. "Thanks for the offer." He nodded at Dave and moved past him.
Jenna followed down the stairs. "I'm coming with you."
He gave her a brief glance but didn't try and stop her. She put on her boots and went out to his truck. Within seconds they were moving off, and she held fast to the sides of the seat.
He thumped the steering wheel with his fist. "I knew something was up. I should've stayed there and made her tell me what was wrong."
"There's no point beating yourself up about that now," Jenna reminded him. "I shouldn't have been such a coward and made you come and find me. You would've been at home right now."
He flicked his gaze her way. "I'm not blaming you."
"Maybe you should."
"I'm her father. Something happened today to make her doubt everything, and I don't know what it was." He groaned. "I can't deal with this again, Jenna-someone I love disappearing on me-I just can't."
She put her hand on his knee. "We'll find her, Blue."
He didn't answer, his attention on the rugged terrain as they left the McDonald property and headed back toward the ranch.
* * *
Ruth wasn't downstairs, so Blue raced up to Maria's bedroom, where he found his entire family awaiting him.
"BB, I'm so sorry." Ruth came toward him. "She must have slipped out when I was watching TV."
He gathered her into a hug, acutely aware of how small she was and how hard she was shaking. "It's okay. It's my fault. I should've stayed here and got to the bottom of what was worrying her."
"This might have something to do with it. I didn't read beyond the first sentence." Ruth handed him a folded sheet of paper. "She must have gotten this in the mail, but I didn't see it come in, did you?"
Blue took the letter and sat on the side of the bed. "It's from Daniel. How the hell-?" He smacked a hand down on the quilt. "She picked up the mail from Brian today at the lower gate. It must have been in there."
"Talk about bad timing," Chase muttered. He was sitting in the window seat, January perched on his knee. "What did he say?"
Blue read out loud.
"Dear Maria, I know you must be thinking all kinds of bad things about me right now. I want to say that I am sorry for how I behaved. When your mom got sick, I was so worried and upset that I kind of lost myself for a while. You know that better than anyone because you had to live with me. I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I miss you, and I hope one day you will forgive me and let me see you again to apologize in person. With all my love, Dad."
Dad. Blue slowly exhaled. "Well, that certainly puts things in a different light. Maybe she decided to go back home?"
"She wouldn't just up and leave in the middle of the night, would she?" Ruth demanded.
"She might if her new dad had just told her that he'd do everything in his power to keep her away from her old dad." Blue groaned and rubbed a hand over his unshaven jaw. "I thought she was scared he'd take her away. I didn't realize she was having second thoughts."
"You don't know that, and we have no evidence that she's decided to go back to Daniel Lester," Ruth said. "She's probably just confused and wanted time to think things through."
"So she gets out of bed and wanders off in the dark in the middle of nowhere?" Blue cleared his throat. "Yeah, we all know what happens with that scenario."
"Not necessarily, son." Billy's voice was gentle. "We'll find her. She has a few special places on the ranch where she likes to go. If we split up we can easily cover them all."
"You didn't see her on the main trail down to the gate, right?" Chase asked.
"No." Jenna shook her head. "I looked the whole way."
"Then she's probably in one of the places Billy knows." Chase stood up. "Did anyone check the barn to see if she took a horse?"
"Roy's out there looking right now." Ruth stood, too, and straightened her spine. "She's a smart girl. We'll find her."
Blue went straight to the barn and Roy came to find him, his expression concerned.
"Marigold's not in her stall."
"So Maria might have gotten farther than we thought." Blue patted the older man on the back. "Why don't you keep Ruth company up at the house while the rest of us search? She'd probably appreciate it even if she'd never admit it."
"I'll do that." Roy stomped off toward the main house. "I know she's feeling pretty bad right now."
"Blue."
He spun around to see Jenna at the door of the feed store. She had something in her hand.
"Is this Maria's?"
He took the rainbow hairband from her and swallowed hard. "Yeah. It's covered in those stupid ponies she loves, but she might have dropped it at any time because she's always in there with those darn kittens."
"What kittens?"
"There should be a basket of them right . . ." Blue went into the room and stared at the empty shelf. "Where'd they go?" He turned a slow circle in the room. "Is it just me, or does it look like there was a fight in here?"
"It's certainly a mess."
"And Chase doesn't let us make a mess anywhere, so what happened?" Blue frowned. "Maybe she thought she had to save the kittens from something?"
"And take them where? Why not up to the main house?" Jenna asked. "She must have known Ruth wouldn't mind."
"Maybe they weren't her priority," Blue said slowly. "Maybe she just decided to take them with her when she left."
"But she'd soon find out that dealing with a bunch of kittens and managing a horse was harder than she'd anticipated."
"So where would she drop them off?"
Their eyes met. "Roy's place?"
He ran back to his truck, Jenna at his side, and then they were off into the darkness. Billy had gone to the hot springs, and Chase was searching around the old silver mine. Blue was supposed to go toward the ghost town of Morganville, but a detour to Roy's place wouldn't hurt.
When they reached Roy's house, it all looked quiet. Blue cut the engine. As he got out of the truck, he heard the whiny of a horse and went still.