Eight
Madison’s heart skipped a beat and she drew a deep breath. She was in Jake’s arms—where she’d fantasized about being all night. More than anything she wanted his kisses. Right now. She gave no thought to the future, to a relationship with him; she thought only of this moment. She felt desire and a need to wipe out the years of bad feelings between them. “I want to forget,” she said, looking up at him. “I want our loving to destroy the bad memories, the anger and hurt for both of us.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “In some ways, it’s as if we just met and in some ways, it’s as if I’ve known you forever.”
Before she could answer, he leaned closer and his mouth covered hers, making her forget conversation.
She tightened her arms around his waist, holding him close, kissing him passionately in return, her heartbeat racing. Desire swept through her as she ran her hands over his back and then tugged his shirt out of his jeans.
Clothing was an unwanted barrier. While he continued to kiss her, he picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, where he stood her on her feet.
“Jake,” she whispered, stepping back to unbuckle his belt, wanting to make love while at the same time wanting to prolong the kisses and caresses for hours. It was Jake she was making love to and that seemed the best thing possible and so incredibly right.
They made love all through the night and when she woke right before dawn, she found herself lying against him, their legs entangled, her head in the hollow of his shoulder, her hair spread over his shoulder, arm and chest. Jake held her with one arm and combed long strands of her hair from her face. Rising on his elbow, he tucked her against him and smiled down at her while he continued to comb her hair from her face in slow, feathery strokes that made her tingle.
“You are so beautiful, Maddie.”
“Thank you.” She smiled sleepily. “You’re the only person who has ever called me Maddie. I like it.”
“Good. You were right, what you said. Making love to you does help soften the past. It’s a rediscovery of you, but we’re both different people now. You can never get back the past.”
“I know you can’t,” she said. “We can’t go back and pick up from where we were.”
He shook his head. “No. We can start from here and see where we go, and so far, it’s good.”
They were both quiet, her thoughts in turmoil over the revelations and changes, the emotional upheavals again in her life. What did she feel for Jake now? Would she ever rekindle the feelings she’d had for him?
She couldn’t answer her own questions. There had been so much hurt and anger between them; once that was gone, what did they have? In some ways she barely knew him. Their lives had gone separate ways.
She sat up and pulled a sheet beneath her arms, turning to look down at him.
“I’ve decided we’ll talk to you about leasing land on my ranch.”
For a moment he was silent while his eyes narrowed. “All right. I’ll let someone know. We’ll set up an appointment with you.”
He pulled her down again beside him. They were both silent and she suspected the moment had changed for him as much as it had for her.
“Thanks for the change of heart.”
“Now that I know the truth, why wouldn’t I talk to you about leasing our land? Our lives have had another monumental change.”
He drew her close to hold her and they were both quiet. Finally she moved away and again pulled the sheet under her arms. Holding it close, she stepped out of bed. “Today is Sunday and I’ll go to church. You and the guys can search. I don’t care. I told Stoney and Darren to go to church if they want.”
“I’ll go home and regroup, then. That’s what my guys did last night.”
Smiling, she walked out of the room, aware of his gaze still on her and the questions still in her mind. She didn’t know the answers. All she knew was she didn’t want to lose him a second time.
Upstairs, she gathered fresh clothes and went to shower, moving routinely, her thoughts still wrapped up in Jake and the changes that had transpired. Already, she wanted to get back with him and she wanted more of his kisses and lovemaking.
* * *
Jake showered, shaved and pulled on fresh clothes. All the time he dressed he thought about Madison and her willingness to talk to his company about leasing Milan land.
He sent a text to Lindsay and to his brothers to tell them about the change in events. He also explained that he had told Madison the truth and she had flown to Dallas to confront her father and the judge had verified it.
Lindsay answered promptly with a brief text: Hooray!
He got a congratulatory one from Josh, while Mike urged him to get a lease signed soon.
He glanced out the window, but instead of seeing the land spreading away from the house, he saw her green eyes and lush body. What did he really feel for her?
He couldn’t answer his own question. Lust was paramount now. Already he wanted to make love to her again. He couldn’t get enough of her, and her appetite for lovemaking seemed as insatiable as his, which made him desire her even more.
He combed his hair and went to find her.
* * *
On Monday they spent another day searching and finding nothing except dirt, roots and rocks. At the house, Jessie Lou had the night off, and Jake had agreed to grill steaks.
Madison turned when she heard Jake enter the kitchen and her heart missed a beat. His black shirt emphasized his muscles and his dark eyes and hair, his broad shoulders. She thought about their lovemaking and fought the urge to go kiss him.
“Want a drink?” she asked instead.
“I’ll get a beer. I’ll pour wine for you.”
“Just a small glass, thanks. I have the steaks ready for you to grill.” They got drinks and he carried the steaks outside. While they waited for the grill to get hot, they sat with their drinks.
“Whenever you want, we can set a time to discuss leasing land.”
She was surprised. “Don’t you need to look it over first?”
He shook his head. “We’re far more familiar with this ranch than you’d guess. Several ranches around here, in fact. Geologists have studied this area off and on through the past three years. This isn’t the only likely spot, but it’s a choice one.”
“My, oh, my. I knew nothing about that.”
He smiled. “Enough about business. You look great,” he said, pulling his chair close to hers and holding her hand. “I want to take you out soon. Some night when we haven’t spent a day digging and searching for treasure.”
“Name the time.” She grinned as she said, “We’ll start all sorts of rumors the first time we’re seen together. Has word gotten back to your parents in California?”
“Not yet, but I imagine it will by tomorrow from Lindsay.”
“Lindsay,” Madison repeated his sister’s name. “I’ll bet she’s not one bit happy. Lindsay does not like the Milans and I’ll have to admit that Tony probably makes things worse.”
“That he does. I know that for a fact. Don’t pay any attention. She’ll be friendly if I am.” He paused to raise her hand and brush a feathery kiss on her palm. His breath was warm, his kiss making her tingle. She drew a deep breath and wanted to be in his arms. He looked up into her eyes while he continued to hold her hand.
“You’re definitely hungry?” he asked in a raspy voice.
“I’m famished,” she whispered, looking at his mouth. He wanted to make love. His dark eyes conveyed his desire and she responded. Her body grew warmer, and she wanted to step over and sit in his lap. “Jake, we should eat,” she whispered.
“Come here, Maddie,” he said, taking her drink from her other hand to set it on a table. His fingers tightened around her hand and he tugged lightly. She stood and he pulled her closer, down to his lap, where he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
In minutes she pushed against his chest and sat back. “Jake, we’re not wasting dinner.” She could barely say the words. She stood and walked away from him.
He followed and stepped to the grill to put the steaks on.
“I’ll get the rest of the dinner on the table,” she said, going inside. She inhaled deeply, trying to cool herself, to get through dinner before it got burned or wasted, but she couldn’t stop thinking about afterward and making love the rest of the night. Once again those nagging questions bombarded her, questions about a potential relationship with Jake, about a future. She banished them from her mind and glanced outside to see him standing in front of the grill while a dark cloud of smoke rose and dissipated into the air. Jake was incredibly handsome. It was difficult to think about dinner when all she wanted was to go back to bed.
The steaks were thick, juicy, delicious, but after a few bites her appetite vanished.
“You’ll go back to Dallas soon, won’t you?” she asked him. “I’ve been told you’re rarely at the ranch.”
“That’s right. I’d like to be here, but I’m too busy. I’ve blocked out this week and next week. How long are you here on the ranch before you’ll go to New Mexico?”
“I go after Christmas to New Mexico and come back here in late spring for about a month.”
“Any chance you’ll stay in Dallas some of that time?”
“Maybe,” she said, smiling at him.
“I want to see you after this search is over.”
“I’d like that,” she replied. They gazed in silence at each other. She could see desire in his dark eyes while all she wanted was to be in his arms.
“I don’t think you’re any hungrier than I am,” he said. “I seem to remember that I was promised a visit to your suite upstairs, but that’s never happened.”
She stood and he came to his feet at the same time. “That’s because we never get that far when heading to a bedroom. C’mon. I’ll show you around my digs.”
Smiling, he joined her, draping his arm across her shoulders and pulling her close against him. She was aware of his height, his warmth. She tingled with anticipation and fought the urge to stop to kiss him now.
“When I’m in Dallas or farther away and I call you, I want to be able to envision you in your room. Right now that’s a blank.”
“So you’re going to call me?”
“Yes, I am,” he said, turning her to face him as they stopped at the foot of the stairs. “I want to see where this is going.” His gaze roamed over her features. “We’re not the same people we were and we have a lot that has happened between us.”
“In some ways we hardly know each other at all.”
“That’s right, but what I know, I like,” he said, his voice getting husky and her heartbeat quickening while her gaze went to his mouth.
“That tour upstairs is going to have to wait a little longer,” he whispered before he leaned down to kiss away her reply.
* * *
Over an hour later they were still in the bed in his suite. They were lying facing each other and she loved the feel of him toying with long strands of her hair.
“You know, Maddie, I haven’t even seen your artwork except the few pictures you showed me downstairs. You’re a famous, successful artist but I’ve always ignored your publicity. You must have other artwork here. You must have a studio somewhere in this house, too. By the way, I haven’t seen the whole house, either.”
“I think it’s your fault that we have limited our seeing the house to the kitchen, the family room, library and your bedroom.”
He grinned, flashing snow-white, even teeth. Locks of his dark hair fell over his forehead. “I want to see your bedroom and your studio.”
“Then I suggest we get dressed and you keep your hands to yourself and I will try to do the same.”
“Keep your hands to myself?” he said.
“You know what I meant.” Aware of his steady gaze, she stepped out of bed and began to pick up her clothing. “I will go up and shower and you come up when you’re ready.”
“Or we could save time and shower here and both go up together.”
“I don’t really think that would be a time-saver at all. See you upstairs,” she said as she left the room.
She showered, dressed in cutoffs and pulled on a bright pink T-shirt. As she brushed her hair, she heard a light knock.
“Anybody home?” Jake stood in the doorway. He was barefoot, wearing jeans and shirtless.
“Oh, honey,” she said, crossing the sitting area to him to wrap one arm around his waist and run her hand over his muscled chest. “I would never keep a handsome man like you out,” she drawled in a sultry rasp.
He grinned and started to lean down to kiss her. She moved back. “I’ll give you the tour first,” she said, taking his hand and walking into the hall. She released his hand to wave her fingers. “To the east is the wing with three bedrooms and one smaller bedroom suite. Here in the center of the house...” She glanced at him and momentarily lost her train of thought. Jake had stepped back, leaning one shoulder against the wall with his feet crossed and a hand on his hip while his gaze roamed slowly over her legs.
She tingled and forgot the tour. Her mouth went dry and the temperature around her spiked. “Jake, you’re not paying attention,” she whispered.
“Oh, I’m paying real close attention. Those are the best-looking legs in Texas and that is saying a lot.”
“Thank you, but I believe you’re ready for glasses. I can’t live up to that description,” she said, crossing the distance to him. “Do you want the tour or not?”
He looked down at her, his gaze going to her mouth, and her heart skipped a beat. She tightened her arm around his waist, turning her face up slightly.
“Yeah, give me the tour,” he replied and his voice was as raspy as her own.
Surprised, because his words did not match his actions, she waved her hand in a semicircle. “Here in the center are two large bedroom suites. One was my parents’ all the years we were growing up and they still stay there if they come to visit me.” She moved on to another bedroom suite. “I have taken this one because it’s so large and more convenient than being in one of the wings. Now to the west wing,” she said, facing west. “There are four more middle-size bedroom suites. One was mine growing up, one was Wyatt’s, one was Nick’s and one was Tony’s. Although Nick rarely sees his ranch, they all have their own ranches now and my dad deeded this one to me. Nick prefers Dallas and Austin. I think he keeps his ranch for an investment.”
“You said they gave you the ranch three years ago?”
“Yes, after they started living in Dallas so much. I was out of school and beginning to do well with my painting and Dad said he was giving me the ranch partially because of the success I had made of my art. He helped the others buy their ranches.”
“Did it ever occur to you that he might have been so generous to make up for what he did when you were going to elope?”
Startled, she stared at Jake as she shook her head. “No. No, I don’t think so.”
Jake looked around, dropping the subject.
“Down this hall past the bedrooms is a large room I’ve had converted into a studio,” she said, leading him into a room that had tables, two oversize sinks, easels, racks with brushes and tubes of paint. Canvases, some finished, some in various stages from pencil sketches, were on easels, propped on the floor and hanging on the walls.
He walked over to look at them. “You’re really very talented,” he said. “I’m impressed.”
“I’m glad,” she said, smiling at him. “Now, back to my suite.” She took his hand and they entered her suite, where she paused to look around.
She glanced at the familiar surroundings of the sitting room, the red, white and green decor, the antique mahogany furniture, the polished plank floor with a thick red area rug in the center. He followed her to an adjoining room, where she held out her hand, waving toward the bedroom.
She walked inside with him, where the same red, white and green decor was used. A four-poster mahogany queen-size bed stood in the center of the room. As she turned to say something to him, the words never came. Looking at her mouth, Jake stepped close to slip his arms around her.
As his lips covered hers, her heart thudded. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tightly, wanting his kisses as if it were the first time he had kissed her. She wanted to make love, to hold and kiss him. Even more, she wanted to get to know him again.
They made love long into the night.
By then she had decided she would lease the ranchland to him. She suspected it would be a very good deal for her and would top the other offers they had had.
Other decisions weren’t so easily made. Would they fall in love again? Had she already and didn’t realize this was the real thing? She was uncertain, something that thirteen years ago she wouldn’t have thought possible. She had been so wildly in love with him then. Now she was scared to let go and she didn’t know what he felt.
As she ran her fingers lightly over his chest, she kept telling herself one thing: time would tell.
* * *
On Tuesday Madison returned to the search with the men. She took a sketch pad and drew while the men dug, pacing off a grid that she and Jake had planned and drawn.
Following her brothers’ suggestions, they had moved away from the creek and were in an arroyo that was dry. They worked in the sun and even though it was a fall day, the temperature was in the nineties and Jake’s shirt was plastered to his body. She still wanted to come along, in case they found something, but now that she trusted Jake and had no worry about him deceiving her, she decided this would be the last day she would go with them.
When they broke for lunch they went back to where they had parked the trucks in a grove of acacias along the creek to keep the vehicles in the shade.
She sat eating a sandwich with Jake. He had brought a fresh cotton shirt and pulled it on. It was unbuttoned, the shirttail hanging out over his jeans.
He hadn’t shaved this morning and had dark stubble on his jaw. His hair was in a tangle with ends wet from his sweat. In spite of the dust, sweat and stubble, he looked sexy and appealing and she thought about the evening, looking forward with anticipation.
“I need to go home and get some other boots tonight. I forgot to bring them this morning. Come home with me and we’ll eat there. You’ve never been in my house.”
“All right. Are we coming back to mine or staying at yours?”
“Stay at mine tonight, Maddie,” he said, his gaze stirring a sizzling current, making her wish the afternoon would not be so long.
“You have a deal, but I’ll need some clothes. What about stopping at the house when we go back and letting me pick up a few things?”
He nodded. “Sure. You’re the first woman to stay there, you know.”
“That surprises me. You were so eager to marry. I’m surprised you haven’t had a serious relationship, let alone that you’re still single.”
“I’ve been busy and there never has been anyone I’ve been that serious about. And I got burned badly, so I’ve skirted around serious romantic entanglements.”
“I married out of spite.”
“I always wondered if you were as in love with him as we had been,” Jake said quietly.
“Not ever. It was a dreadful mistake that I knew I was making and I got out of it early on because it was messing up Will’s life.”
“Damn,” Jake said quietly, setting down his half-eaten sandwich. “I hope you told your dad.”
“I did and he looked pained and said he was afraid of that. It’s over and done and I’m sorry if I hurt Will. I wasn’t thinking clearly and I was so angry with you at the time.”
She met Jake’s level gaze. “I hate that,” he said and she shrugged.
“As you would say, it’s over. Forget it.”
His gaze shifted beyond her while he seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment. “That’s true,” he said and picked up his bottle of water to take a long drink. He waved the bottle at her. “This is the best part of lunch.”
“It’ll be hotter this afternoon.”
“We can swim when we get to my house.”
“Sure,” she said, smiling at him. He had been about to take a bite of sandwich, but he lowered it and looked at her with raised eyebrows.
“You have something else in mind when we arrive at my house?”
“You don’t?”
He grinned. “I wish we were alone now.”
“I promise you, it would not do you any good out here with the ground full of cactus pines, cockleburs and snakes possibly crawling past. Not ever.”
“There’s a challenge if I ever heard one.”
She pointed a finger at him. “Well, we’re not alone, so forget it. Eat your sandwich and look forward to finishing here for today.”
“Oh, I am looking forward to it,” he said in a husky, seductive drawl while his gaze roamed slowly from her head to her toes, making her tingle in its wake. “It’s going to be difficult to concentrate on digging holes in the ground this afternoon. My thoughts will be elsewhere.”
“It doesn’t take great powers of concentration to dig,” she said, smiling at him. When he gave her a sexy grin, she began to count down the hours.
* * *
In the hot afternoon sun, Jake dug, thinking the treasure could be buried at her ranch house for all they knew. He paused, leaning on his shovel while he glanced at Maddie, who sat with her head bent over her drawing pad while she sketched. Where were they going with their relationship?
She didn’t seem to have an answer any more than he did. Sex was hot, the best, and he couldn’t get enough of her, but did it go deeper than that? Was he so blinded by desire that he couldn’t even perceive the depth of his feelings for her? Did he care if they walked out of each other’s lives when this search was over?
He cared about that. In fact, he wanted her to move in with him, but it was a purely lustful longing. He didn’t feel the way he had at nineteen—as if she was necessary for his life to continue. At that age he couldn’t imagine life without her. They were teenagers and both wildly in love in the way that only teens could be. It had been intense, dramatic and youthful, a love that had been totally entwined with hot sex that she experienced for the first time in her life.
Her father had turned his world upside down. Jake still didn’t like to think about how badly it had hurt to lose her.
What about now? He needed to get a reading on what he felt for her, because she would walk out of his life again soon and there might not ever be another chance. Was it going to hurt to tell her goodbye?
With the hot sun beating down on his shoulders and back, he stood looking at her. The thought of her going her own way made his stomach churn. Their time together was coming to an end and he didn’t want it to—but was that love or just lust?
From what she had said to him, she was as uncertain as he was about the extent of her feelings. He envied the certainty he had felt at nineteen, never questioning if he truly loved her enough to want to spend the rest of his life with her. He had been so sure and it had taken a lot of pain, time and anger to kill those feelings.
Common sense said to step away, get the physical relationship in perspective and see how he felt. That was common sense, but it didn’t appeal to him.
He fished out his phone to call his ranch to tell his cook to put out two steaks for him to grill, and to fix the rest of the dinner and put it in the refrigerator for tonight. He returned to digging, thinking about Maddie and their lovemaking last night and looking forward to tonight. There had never been any woman in his life he had felt so strongly about as he had Maddie. That made him search his feelings now more than ever. If they really fell in love, surely they would each recognize it.
As he dug it dawned on him that if they found the deed, he would have a dilemma—all the more reason to decide soon what his feelings were for her. Now that she would let him lease her land to drill, the whole reason for searching for the deed had vanished.
He didn’t want to hurt her. That was one certainty in his life. For Maddie’s sake, he would never take any of the Milan land. When he’d thought it would affect her dad, he’d wanted to take it and enjoy every minute when he could tell Judge Milan that part of his ranch now belonged to the Calhouns. That would be sweet revenge. But the ranch was now owned by Maddie. Taking part of it would hurt her, so he wasn’t going to do it. He didn’t really think the deed existed anyway. With the lack of success they had been having, he figured the old legend was just a tall Texas tale and nothing more.
He couldn’t wait to get to the ranch, clean up and enjoy the evening with Maddie.
* * *
By Wednesday, Jake’s hopes had plummeted. Monday he would be in Dallas, back in the corporate life. When would he see Maddie once he was in Dallas or traveling and she was out here at the ranch?
He loved being a rancher, loved everything about the cowboy life and living on the ranch. The quiet was something he occasionally had to come home and enjoy. But he had only days left.
He plunged the shovel into the hard earth and tossed a shovelful of dirt to one side. “Your ranch looks as if an army of gophers have taken over,” he said to Madison, who sat on a nearby rock and sketched.
Once again they were near Rocky Creek. They were in the shade of another grove of trees, digging in ground slightly less packed, and she had found a rock where she could sit and draw.
“What do you say to us stopping at four today? If we haven’t found anything by then, I’m giving up for today. We have tomorrow to try one more time. Tomorrow I’ll pay the guys a bonus for helping this week—yours and mine.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can pay the ones who work for me.”
He shook his head. “No, this has been my project from the start. It’s like chasing rainbows. I insist.”
She shrugged. “Okay. Thanks. That’s nice.” His gaze raked over her. She was dressed to be out on the ranch—boots, jeans, long-sleeved cotton shirt and a broad-brimmed tan Stetson that looked as if she had had it since high school.
“Back to quitting at four. Let’s go home, get dressed and let me take you to Dallas tonight to dinner, maybe dancing. I have a home in Dallas and we can just stay in the city. We’ve earned a night out. Will you go with me?”
A big smile broke out on her face that made his heartbeat quicken. She was irresistible to him when she smiled. “You have a deal,” she said.
“Great. Think you can be ready to go by six?”
“Oh, yes. Easily.”
“Half past five?” he asked and she thought a moment before she nodded.
“That’s it, then,” he said. “If I can get home, shower and get back. If not, I won’t be much later than that, but I’m definitely aiming for half past five.”
“I can’t wait. I haven’t been out to dinner and dancing with an exciting, handsome man in way too long.”
“I hope not since you were sixteen.”
She laughed and his grin widened.
“It was a little later than that, but it was not in the past few months.”
“Not what I wanted to hear.”
“Forget it. I’m going with you tonight.”
“So you are and I can’t wait.” He wanted to chuck this whole search and head home now, but this was next to the last day he could devote to this, so he would stay until four. He jammed the shovel into the ground to get another scoop of dirt and scraped something hard.