“No. I also have a sister. Lucita lives in Corpus Christi and teaches school there. She’s divorced and has a ten-year-old son. We’re trying to get her to come back to the Sandbur to live, but so far we haven’t been able to persuade her. As for Matt, he remarried a little more than a year ago after being a widow for seven years. He’s the general manager of the ranch and oversees the cattle production.”
“Sounds like a busy man,” Anne-Marie mused aloud.
Cordero nodded. “He used to work night and day. In fact, his whole life was work. But his new wife changed all of that. Now he makes sure he takes time out for her and their daughter.”
Anne-Marie sighed wistfully as she pictured his big family. No doubt they had gatherings during holidays and special occasions. If one needed help there would always be another to lean on. How would it feel to be sheltered in such a warm nest?
“I’ve always believed I would be a different person if I’d had a brother or sister to share things with. But unfortunately that never happened. After Mama gave birth to me, she wasn’t physically able to bear more children.”
He must have picked up on the sad note in her voice because his fingers wrapped around hers and squeezed. Anne-Marie was becoming addicted to the strength of his hand, the security it lent her. Which was crazy. She hardly knew this man. Yet she was drawn to him in ways that shook her deeply.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “And I say that because I know how lost I’d be without my brother and sister, my cousins. We’re braided together like a piece of lariat. If one of us hurts, the rest do, too.”
Her expression turned reflective as it drifted over to the fountain. “Yes. I got the feeling it would be that way with your family. Just hearing about them is…nice.”
She could feel his gaze wandering over her face like a lover’s meandering hand. The lure of it pulled her eyes around to his face and the chiseled curve of his lips. Desire, wild and sweet, rushed through her veins and heated her cheeks.
“I don’t guess your parents considered adopting a brother or sister for you?” he asked.
Dropping her eyes from the tempting sight of him, Anne-Marie shook her head. “Father was against it. I really don’t know why, except that he had to share Mama with me, and so many others, who often called on Fiona for help of some kind or another. I think he just didn’t want her attention taken away from him any more than it already was.”
“Hmm. Well, do you have any other relatives around?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “I have a few older aunts and uncles on my mother’s side. But they and their families are scattered across the South. I don’t see them very often. My cousins, Audra and Emmett, are the only ones I stay in touch with. They’re Duveuils and live in Thibodaux. Their father, Neville, and Jules were brothers. But he passed away a few years ago and their mother married and left the area.”
“You implied that this place has always been a family operation. Did Neville ever have anything to do with Cane’s Landing?”
“Years ago he did. But then he sold his part of the place to my father. Now it belongs solely to Jules. Cane’s Landing will eventually go to me whenever he’s gone.”
Cordero’s fingers unwrapped themselves from hers to slowly slide up her forearm. Anne-Marie tried not to shiver as goose bumps erupted across her skin.
“This is a big place for one little woman,” he remarked. “Do you plan on keeping it?”
Something in the air between them was sizzling, warning her to get up and away before she got burned. But her brain refused to send a signal to her legs.
“I’d never sell Cane’s Landing. There are plenty of employees to take care of the grounds and the crops.”
Leaning closer, his voice lowered. “I don’t mean that, Anne-Marie. Living here alone would be — well, it just wouldn’t be the right thing for a woman like you.”
Her tongue peeped out to slide moisture against her top lip. “And you know what the right thing for me would be?”
Suddenly she realized his hand had made its way to her shoulder and now his fingers were twining through her hair. She could feel her breaths growing shorter and shorter while her eyelids insisted on drifting downward.
“Not exactly,” he said in a low voice. “I just know that you were meant to have a man in your life.”
She shouldn’t be feeling this drunk, Anne-Marie thought. She’d only taken a few tiny sips of mint julep. She drew in a deep breath in hopes of clearing her foggy senses. “You’re not thinking you’re that man, are you?”
His soft chuckle was warm and sexy and whispered against her cheeks like a tempting breeze on a hot night.
“I don’t see any other man around here at the moment.”
Chapter Four
Knowing she was about to drown and that this was the last chance to save herself, Anne-Marie started to rise from the bench. But his hands quickly caught her forearms and tugged her even closer to the front of his body.
Her heart beating in her throat, she protested, “Cordero, you’re only going to be here for a few days. That —”
He interrupted by murmuring, “That means we need to make the most of our time together.”
His voice was so sultry and sensual she felt as though he’d wrapped her in a velvet cloak. The soft warmth was melting her bones.
A tiny, helpless moan sounded in her throat as she watched his head descend toward hers. But even that pitiful objection came to an abrupt end as his lips captured hers in one swift swoop.
The intimate contact momentarily robbed her of breath and then all she could think was that this was nothing like the kiss he’d given her in the elevator. His lips were making a slow, seductive foray over hers. Searching and teasing, spreading a sensation of liquid heat throughout her body. This kiss was shouting that he wanted her and she had no choice but to answer that she wanted him just as much.
His hands traveled over her shoulders and down her back until they met at her waist, where they pressed her even closer. The movement caused her lower body to twist completely off the bench and then somehow she found herself tugged onto his lap, her head cradled against his strong shoulder.
Somewhere around them, she heard the frogs and insects singing in glorious unison. A leaf fluttered and the water poured from the angel’s jug tinkled a hypnotic melody. But the sounds were muted by the roaring heartbeats in her ears.
Desire and fear wrapped themselves together and thudded inside her like a war drum. Urging her to make love to him. Urging her to pull away.
Before her mind and her body could come to agreement, Cordero finally lifted his mouth from hers and smiled.
“See what I mean?” he whispered. “Can you think of a nicer way to spend the next few days?”
The provocative tone of his words was like turning on a warning siren. It jolted Anne-Marie out of her romantic stupor and she bolted from his lap.
With her gaze fastened warily on his face, she backed away from him and the bench until her hips were resting against the rim of the fountain. “You’re not here for this — that — me!”
In the blink of an eye he was standing next to her, his big hands cupping the sides of her face. She breathed in the scent of him and felt her legs tremble.
“That’s not what your lips told me a few moments ago,” he countered. “That’s not what they’re going to tell me now, either.”
She’d not expected him to kiss her again and though her body was begging her to fall into his arms, common sense sent her running to another part of the garden where the air was thick with the scent of honeysuckle and the shadows were deep and dark. She was breathing hard, her fingertips rubbing back and forth across her swollen lips when he quietly slipped up behind her. As his hands came down on her shoulders she tried not to groan with longing.
“I’m sorry, Anne-Marie,” he said gently. “I didn’t mean to push myself on you.”
Swallowing the tightness in her throat, she turned to face him. “No. Don’t apologize. I’m the
one who should be doing that. You weren’t behaving out of character. I was. I should never have kissed you that way. I was leading you on — and that was wrong of me.”
“It didn’t feel wrong.”
She sighed. “Well, it was. I have no intention of ever getting involved with another man. Even for a few brief days. Even with you.”
His expression sober, his hands momentarily tightened on her shoulders. “That sounds…very lonely, Anne-Marie.”
A strange sort of sadness swept through her, but she pushed it away. Pleasure had nearly ruined her once; she was determined never to take that path again.
“There are other things in life besides romance and marriage. Once Father’s health is better I intend to return to my missionary work. That’s the thing in life that brings me solace. That’s all I want.”
What about joy and happiness? Didn’t that fit into her life, too? Cordero wanted to ask her. But he kept the questions to himself. Frankly, he was in no shape to spar with the woman. The kiss he’d just shared with her had been something far beyond a meeting of lips. Though he didn’t want to admit it to himself, he’d never experienced anything like it. Everything inside him was still shaking and he felt drunk with the desire to hold her again.
The best thing he could do now was get the hell out of here. Two more days and that would be it, Cordero promised himself. By Thursday he was heading back to Texas. Before this redheaded angel had him thinking he wanted to be caught for a lifetime.
“Well, maybe we’d better go in,” he suddenly suggested. “It’s been a long day.”
She glanced at his face. “You’re angry at me. I can tell by the frown on your face.”
His frown had nothing to do with her and everything to do with the realization that his weakness for women was someday going to get him into trouble. Maybe it already had.
He smiled to soften his words. “I’m not the least bit angry, Anne-Marie. A man has to try. I lost and that’s that.” He reached for her hand and urged her back onto the graveled path. “Come on. I feel a need for another one of Darcella’s mint juleps.”
On the porch, she waited by the door while he poured himself a drink from the pitcher they’d left behind. Taking it with him, he entered the house with her and they climbed the stairs together.
Both of them were silent until they reached the landing. Then Anne-Marie offered him an awkward good-night, before she fled to her bedroom.
Cordero went into his own room and shut the door behind him. He gulped the vodka down in three long swigs and was glad when a buzz almost immediately hit his brain. He didn’t want to think tonight. He didn’t want to remember the feeling of Anne-Marie in his arms.
Jerking his cell phone out of his pocket, he sank onto the edge of the bed and quickly dialed the Sanchez house.
His niece, Gracia, answered the phone on the third ring.
“Gracia, it’s Cordero. Is your daddy around?”
“Hi, Uncle Cordero! We’ve all been wondering about you! Daddy said you must be in a beer joint or a jail cell. Otherwise, we would have heard from you before now.”
With a wry grimace, Cordero said, “Well, I’m not in either. So tell Matt to get himself to the phone.”
“Okay. Hang on a sec. Him and Mom are out on the patio.”
Love had definitely changed his older brother for the better, Cordero thought. Matt was always laughing and smiling now. He didn’t drive himself into the ground. Instead, he quit before dark and went home to enjoy his family. But then Matt had always been a family man. Cordero wouldn’t know what to do with a wife or child. And he didn’t want to learn — especially how it felt to lose one.
“Cordero? Where the hell are you?”
Matt’s voice boomed in his ear and for a second he forgot that he was still in Louisiana in a plantation house that had seen centuries of families come and go.
He stifled a sigh. “I’m in Louisiana. I got here earlier this afternoon.”
“Did you make it okay? Any trouble with the truck? The horses?”
“No. Everything went great.”
“That’s good. Did Jules like the horses?”
Cordero closed his eyes and rubbed the burning lids with his fingertips. “He hasn’t seen them yet. He’s in the hospital.”
“Hospital! What happened?”
Nothing, Cordero wanted to bark at him. The old man looked as fit as a fiddle. But he couldn’t explain to Matt that Jules Duveuil was playing a part for his daughter’s benefit. The whole thing was too bizarre to explain.
“A little trouble with his heart. He’s having tests run. But I’m sure he’s going to be okay.”
“You’ve seen him?”
“Yes. His daughter went with me to the hospital.”
“Grown daughter?”
Normally the note of suspicion in Matt’s voice would have had him laughing, but at the moment Cordero couldn’t summon up an ounce of amusement.
“That’s right. Actually the horses are for her.”
“Oh. Well, I hope she was pleased with them. Did you assure her that the Sandbur will buy them back if she doesn’t like the way they perform?”
Cordero frowned. “Since when did you start questioning me about my job?” he asked shortly. “You take care of the cattle and let me handle the horses. Okay?”
There was a long pause, then Matt said in a low, rough voice, “What the hell is the matter with you?”
Feeling ashamed of his sudden outburst, Cordero sighed. “Sorry, Matt. I didn’t mean that. I’m just dog-tired. And this place is getting to me.”
“What place? You haven’t said where you are? Are you already on your way back home?”
Dropping his hand from his eyes, he glanced around the comfortably furnished room. “No. I’m at Cane’s Landing. I’m staying here for the rest of the week just as I’d planned.”
“I don’t understand. With Jules in the hospital you two can’t do much visiting,” Matt said.
The sound of his brother’s disbelief put a faint smile on Cordero’s face. “That’s right. I promised Jules I’d stay long enough to get Anne-Marie acquainted with the horses. It’s been a while since she’s ridden and Jules asked me personally to stay. I couldn’t say no.”
“No to him or no to this woman?” Matt asked suspiciously.
Cordero lay back on the soft duvet and stared up at the tall ceiling above his head, yet it was Anne-Marie’s delicate features that swam before his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Matt, Anne-Marie isn’t my type of woman.”
Matt grunted with even more skepticism. “I thought any woman was your type, little brother.”
That might have been true yesterday, but tonight he felt different. Tonight he was asking himself why being with Anne-Marie felt so special, why he had the feeling that he was never going to look at women in the same way again. “Not this one. She’s too nice for me.”
His brother let out a groan of concern. “Since when did that ever stop you?”
Frowning, Cordero said, “Look Matt, there’s no need for you to keep harping at me. I’m not going to get into anything deep with Jules’s daughter. I’ve got plenty of gals back home to keep me busy.”
“Yeah. But they’re here and you’re there.”
Chuckling now, he said, “I’ll be coming home in a few days, so quit your worrying.”
Matt changed the subject completely after that and Cordero was glad. He needed to remember there were other things going on in the world besides the earthquake Anne-Marie had caused inside him.
The next morning Cordero woke just before the sun was about to make its way through the tree limbs shading his bedroom windows. The house was quiet when he stepped into the shower and was still that way a few minutes later when he descended the stairs to the main floor.
The scent of freshly brewed coffee drifted to him and he realized that someone, more than likely Darcella, had woken up before him. He followed the smell until he found the kitchen, a long cozy room in the back
of the house. Darcella was standing in front of an industrial-sized gas range where she was browning slabs of ham in an iron skillet. She glanced up and smiled as he walked over to her.
“Good mornin’, Cordero. Did you sleep well enough to want breakfast?”
Once he’d turned off the lights and slipped between the sheets, he’d expected his spinning thoughts of Anne-Marie to only get worse, but the fifteen-hour drive he’d made yesterday coupled with the quietness of the plantation had worked on him as soon as his head hit the pillow. He’d slept soundly throughout the night.
“I slept great. And that ham smells delicious.” He peered over the cook’s shoulder and sniffed at the cooking meat. “Will there be some biscuits to go with it?”
“They’re in the oven now. Would you like coffee?” she asked.
“Right now I’d give my right arm for a cup,” he admitted.
Darcella laid down her turning fork and wiped her hands on the front of her thick white apron. “No need for that,” she said with a smile. “You might need it to put around a pretty girl.”
She turned and walked a few steps behind her to a row of oak cabinets. After she pulled a coffee cup from one of the shelves, she filled it from a coffeemaker positioned at the end of the countertop.
“Cream or sugar?” she asked.
“Black is fine.”
Darcella handed him the cup and he murmured his thanks. “Mmm. This is good,” he said after taking a careful sip.
With a pleased smile, Darcella went back to the stove. “Anne-Marie always tells me that I make it too strong. But she wouldn’t know cause she pours in enough cream to churn butter.”
“Now, Darcella, you know that isn’t true. I always love your coffee.”
The sound of Anne-Marie’s voice surprised Cordero and he quickly turned to see her entering the kitchen through a door opening to an outside porch. She was dressed in beige jodhpurs and a starched white short-sleeved blouse that buttoned up the front. Tall, English riding boots came almost to her knees and as Cordero took in her aristocratic image, he realized that his idea of riding a horse was probably going to be far different from hers.
Having the Cowboy's Baby Page 5
