by Leslie North
“Thank you! Those look delicious.” The pile of buttery golden-brown cookies that Penny carried looked like they had been cut right out of an ad in Good Housekeeping. The aroma hit her, and her mouth watered as she took in each glistening chocolate chip. She still had an IV stuck in her arm pumping nutrients, but her stomach grumbled at the promise of real food.
"Your pulse is picking up again," Maxwell mentioned. She noticed his amused glance in her direction and decided to ignore it. "It's interesting what excites you."
"Reading my vitals is cheating," she said as she accepted the plate of cookies from Penny. "But I shouldn't be surprised. You were definitely cheating out in the barn, too."
"Was I?"
"You employed unfair distraction tactics."
"Did he?" Penny asked interestedly. Maxwell rose quickly to offer his mother the chair, and she sat down. Lena couldn't help thinking that he had an ulterior motive for the gentlemanly offering. He looked extremely uncomfortable with where the conversation was headed.
"Sure did," Lena said. "Should I tell you?"
"I'm going to get us some real food," Maxwell stated. He spun on his heel and exited the room. Point for me, Lena thought wickedly. She couldn't help keeping score. Try as Maxwell Cooper might to come on to her like a no-holds-barred rogue, he still got flustered when she met him halfway. It was one of the many things she was growing to lo- like about him.
"He's missing out. Jeez, these are amazing!" Lena filled her mouth with compliments for Penny's culinary prowess in an effort to stop herself from gorging on too many cookies too quickly. She sat back with a blissful sigh and shut her eyes, letting the melty chocolate coat her tongue as she chewed. She would never say it out loud, but Penny's cookies were practically orgasmic. "I'm going to have to get this recipe from you," she enthused as she took another bite.
Penny smiled happily. "I'm glad you enjoy them. It's been so long since I was able to bake for someone who isn't myself. You wouldn't believe how much the boys ate growing up, but after we all moved on with our lives…" She sighed. Lena stopped chewing for a moment out of sympathy.
"But you live near Maxwell, right? Don't you visit each other?"
Penny's smile returned. "I don't visit as often as I should. I know how his father was, and Maxwell takes after Robert like you wouldn't believe. Once he's locked onto a project, it's hard to turn his attention from it. Well, maybe not so hard," Penny admitted with a pointed look at Lena's belly.
Lena flushed. "You probably think I'm an idiot," she said sheepishly.
Penny laughed. "Why? Because you took a little spill while pregnant? Please. You would be horrified to know how many times I fell on my ass while carrying Maxwell's brother, Sawyer."
A shy smile tugged at the edges of Lena's lips. "He may have mentioned that."
"Pregnancy is not an illness. There's plenty you can still do. Hell, the last thing on earth you need is someone telling you what your limits are," Penny said. "Believe me. I've lived through it three times now. The comments that made you cranky as a working woman before have the power to turn you into the Devil herself now."
"I shouldn't have pushed Maxwell. And I shouldn't have pushed myself. It's just…" Lena gazed dejectedly at her stomach. She must have looked ridiculous with the plate of cookies balanced atop it, but she couldn't shake the impression that she had messed up royally by sticking to her guns. "So much has happened these past five months. I don't want my circumstances to get the better of me. I want to meet every challenge head-on. By the time this baby is born, I want to have my life back on track."
"You don't have to go it alone. Trust my son, Lena. And if you can't bring yourself to trust him right away, then trust his mother." Penny laid a comforting hand on Lena's and didn't appear to notice the tangle of tubes that got in the way. "Maxwell is a teddy bear under that stoic cowboy exterior. He's a good man."
Lena nodded, but her throat stayed tight. She didn't know if she was ready to put all her trust in a man, good or otherwise. She knew how things had turned out for her mother, and her grandmother—hell, for every single woman in her family. They always wound up raising their children alone. Men were the downfall of Fudge women.
"I know! Why don't you stay at the ranch?" Penny leaned back with a bright laugh. Lena wondered how long Penny had been wanting to propose the idea. Her spontaneity seemed just a little contrived. "That way, Maxwell can keep an eye on you properly!"
"Mom already closed on the Florida condo. And apartment hunting hasn't really panned out as quickly as I hoped…" Lena said hesitantly.
"You can stay at the ranch."
Both women turned their heads. Maxwell's tall form filled the doorway. Lena's heart flipped at the sight of him, and she swallowed. Not good, she thought. You just saw him five minutes ago. Hell, you've seen the man naked. You should be used to looking at him by now. How badly did it bode for her escaping the family's curse that even being in the same room as Maxwell made her weak?
His eyes were dark and meaningful as he gazed at her. "You can stay with me," he insisted.
Yep. Definitely cursed.
7
LENA
"All packed?"
Lena turned. Her heart pumped just a little faster to see Maxwell leaning in the doorway of her bedroom.
But that was wrong. This room, and the house that contained it...they weren't hers anymore. All of the childhood memories she had made here she carried with her now. There were no more belongings, and no more evidence, that indicated she had ever been here at all.
"Just thinking," she lied as she clicked her last suitcase closed and rose, "about that sale you hope to make to that Arab royal family."
"I'm more than hopeful about it," Maxwell said. "It's got to be done. That family has never stabled Montana stock before. Nailing a sale to them would secure Cooper Ranch's reputation for decades to come."
"Cooper Ranch already has a sterling reputation," Lena pointed out. But Maxwell didn't seem to hear her. Judging by his eyes and his suddenly tense expression, Lena had a feeling he had already mentally pulled up the Reins article and was torturing himself with a few choice passages. "Maxwell, you have to know how well your business is doing. You're already the envy of every single breeder I've crossed paths with."
"We can do better," he concluded. The self-assurance in his tone implied another statement entirely: I can do better.
Lena shrugged. It wasn't a battle she intended to fight, not right now. She turned back to her stacked boxes of belongings and gave the emptied room one last sorrowful consideration. She fixed it in her memory; she heaved a sigh as she got to her feet.
"Lena."
She turned, and found Maxwell standing behind her. She didn't wait for an invitation. She buried her face in his chest.
Don't cry, she thought viciously. Her fingers twisted in his shirt. She clung to him, and tried to slow her breathing. She was surprised when Maxwell's hand found her back and began to make gentle, soothing circles between her shoulder blades.
"You were trying to distract me by talking shop," he accused. "You should take a moment."
"I don't need any more moments, Maxwell. Really. I'm all right." Lena tried to extract herself from his arms, but Maxwell held her firmly. She paused to look up at him and offered the tentative beginnings of a brave smile. But her smile wouldn't hold when she saw the ponderous expression on his face. There was heat in his eyes, enough to make her aware of the sudden spike in temperature in the room.
Well, maybe she could afford one more moment.
The moment came when Maxwell's lips slid against her own. Lena leaned into him, as much as her rounded stomach would allow, as his arms constricted tightly around her. His lips moved against hers, gently insistent, and she opened to him with a shaky inhalation. The kiss was wet and warm and dizzying, and it was only then that Lena acknowledged she hadn't known if such a kiss from Maxwell would ever come her way again.
But the unyielding way he held her told her he was hel
pless to curb his desire. And her trembling heart wondered what that might mean. Could Maxwell…could he really…? It was impossible to keep up her uncertain train of thought when his tongue kept teasing little breath-catching moans from her.
The spark was there. It was definitely still there. And it was going to blaze up between them in a roaring inferno and burn the house down if she didn't do something about it.
"I'd…better start loading up." Lena broke away from him and laid her hands on his chest. Maxwell's big hands dragged up to her shoulders, and he squeezed his acknowledgement in lieu of saying anything. Lena wondered if he was as winded as she felt. "Thanks for…"
"Anytime." He headed her off before she could put what had just passed between them into words. She shifted uncomfortably when he didn't tear his gaze immediately from her. Maxwell blinked, and surveyed the empty room. "Want to take that?" He pointed.
Lena, still dizzy from their kiss, and didn't quite comprehend what he meant. She looked at the naked wall dumbly, before her eyes dropped to the novelty switch plate. It depicted three charging mustangs running through the vaulted corridor of a mountain valley. She had loved that switch plate since she was a kid. It was jarring to realize she hadn't thought about it for years.
"Bring a little piece of home away with you," Maxwell encouraged.
"I suppose it wouldn't be totally out of place at the ranch..." Lena said.
Maxwell grinned. "I'll get my screwdriver."
They took the switch plate, and Lena's things, and loaded themselves up alongside everything in the truck. The drive back across the wide Montana countryside was peaceful. Lena rolled her window down, but spent half the drive only pretending to take in the scenery. She couldn't keep her eyes from straying to the mirrors and Maxwell's reflection. More than once, she caught him looking at her.
She couldn't get that kiss out of her head.
They arrived back at Cooper Ranch late in the afternoon. Lena was surprised when Maxwell, grabbing one of her suitcases, started down the path leading out toward the stables.
"We're not going to the main house?" Lena wondered if Maxwell had decided against letting her live with him, after all. She understood completely why he might have changed plans at the last minute. Being seen living with a female employee had to be bad optics, never mind that her moving onto the property was already a pretty clear signal of the truth to any local gossips. Still, a part of Lena couldn't help feeling downcast at his change of heart.
"Did you decide to bunk me with the rest of the crew?" she asked perkily when he didn’t answer. The best course now was to be over-bright and act as if no surprise decision of his could faze her.
Maxwell smiled behind the dark spill of hair that fell into his eyes. "You think I live in the main house? Come on."
Lena followed, her curiosity completely overcoming any previous worries she may have had about being separated. Of course Maxwell lived in the farmhouse...didn't he? Where else was there besides the bunkhouses?
He led her into the barn and up a flight of steps that wound around the first-floor office. Lena ascended, not bothering to disguise her amazement as they went. "Maxwell...you live out here?"
"Since I started high school," he said amiably as he set her things down to unlock the door to his apartments.
"Are you telling me you were literally raised in a barn?"
"Give it a chance," Maxwell said, wearing that same mysterious smile as he pushed the door open for her. "Something tells me you're going to like it."
Lena didn't bother stifling her gasp, or even pausing before she swept past him into the front room. Because it wasn't just a room that Maxwell inhabited. The spacious studio layout she had been expecting gave way to countless other rooms. The slanted ceiling reminded her of walking into a friend's A-frame house she had once visited and fallen in love with. Rich chestnut wood floors and walls seemed to wrap her in a cozy embrace and immediately made her forget the reality of where they actually were. Walking into Maxwell's apartments felt like coming...
Home.
"Maxwell, this is amazing," she whispered. She turned, and was startled to find that, unlike her, he wasn't taking in their surroundings at all. His eyes were steadfastly trained on her and on what Lena assumed must be her totally transported expression. She was a little embarrassed by her breathless response, but seeing the resulting pride on his face made it worth it.
"Not a lot of people would think so," he admitted. "Especially not anyone you're likely to find on the dating scene. You're the first woman I've ever had up here."
"No." Yet she believed him and was secretly ecstatic to have been chosen.
"Oh yeah. But I'm glad I made the choice. Just look where living above the barns growing up got me. I have a solid job with great horse stock." Maxwell flared his hands in unnecessary presentation. As far as Lena was concerned, the entire everyday operation of Cooper Ranch was already a testament to his success. "The barns were always close to family, but living here gave me independence, too."
"A man after my own heart," Lena said. Then she felt embarrassed for bringing her heart into it. She looked away, ostensibly to keep exploring, but she was aware of Maxwell's eyes following her all the while. "Are you sure having me this close isn't going to bother you?"
"I can't promise it won't bother me," Maxwell said as he crossed the room. He opened the door to what Lena assumed was to be her bedroom. "But I won't be bothered in the way that you're suggesting."
The devil in her wanted to press him about what he meant, but Lena had always thought it a distinctly unattractive look to play dumb. She knew exactly what he meant by his words, because she was about to be bothered by their proximity as well.
Hot and bothered.
At least she wouldn't run up the electric bill by taking steamy showers. It was cold, cold, cold from here on out.
Maxwell stepped nearer to her. They had been so wrapped up in business and trying to get out ahead of this baby thing that Lena only just now realized they hadn't had time to discuss the future of their relationship. Was a real romance between them possible, given the crowd of matters already jostling for space?
The taste of Maxwell's kiss still lingered on her lips. Lena touched the pliant flesh of her lower lip, just to be sure she was imagining the feeling...and to apply a little pressure, just a little, to the memory. Maxwell watched her. She could act on her desire and pull him to her, but she still hesitated. Would she be pursuing what her heart wanted, or was it just hormones maddening her with images of him pinning her against every available surface of the apartment and having his way with her?
"I'll just start unpacking now, shall I?" Lena suggested. If she didn't use words to preoccupy her lips, she was likely to seize his. Maxwell blinked, then ducked his head in a nod of affirmation. He moved aside to allow her to deposit her duffle on the bed. When Lena turned, he was already gone to retrieve the rest of her belongings from the truck.
"Oof!" She exhaled, rolled her eyes to the ceiling, and collapsed back onto the bed. If Maxwell wanted her close, it was possible he underestimated just how close she wanted him to be. She eyed the switch plate on the wall. The first thing she would do once she unpacked was replace it with the one from her old house.
"You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Maxwell," she mumbled to the ceiling. Lena was starting to feel at home already.
8
LENA
Maxwell spent the next week teaching her all about his horses. The doctor had forbidden Lena from some of the more physical work to be done around the ranch, so she threw herself wholesale into her lessons. The horse she’d paused to admire when she’d first arrived—a gorgeous black and white paint with the dished face and high tail of his Arabian ancestors—was Maxwell’s pride and joy. The horse he planned to sell to the Middle Eastern princes.
"Arctic Fire…Monkey Mad Dog…Whispered Faith…" She rattled off the names on the list quietly to herself as she walked through the sunlit barn. "Jesus, Maxwell, y
ou sure know how to name your stock. Either that, or you don't know how to name them at all."
She should have this by now, but she felt hopelessly lost as she looked on the long equine faces staring back at her out of their stalls. She blamed pregnancy brain, but that didn’t make it any easier. Maxwell had even taken to sending his friends and neighbors in unannounced to roleplay at being buyers. Lena had been dismayed by what she at first perceived to be a trick, but she was determined to win the game now. She never backed down from a challenge.
She stopped in front of the horse she thought was Monkey Mad Dog. He pushed his nose out, and Lena stroked him as he whickered and nodded. She shut her eyes and leaned in.
"I am beautiful," she whispered. "I am worthy." Her daily affirmations with the horses raised more than a few eyebrows around the barn, but Lena didn't mind it. She knew how ridiculous she looked, but the time she spent bonding was priceless. It put the horses at ease around her and made her that much more effective as a saleswoman.
"Hello?" an unfamiliar male voice called out.
Lena whirled. "Not another one, Maxwell," she moaned beneath her breath. She composed herself, squared her shoulders, and strolled to meet this latest "client."
"Hello!" She beamed her most eager smile at him to make up for the time it had taken her to cross the barn. He was a handsome older gentleman in a muted camel-colored cowboy hat and well-worn boots. She liked the look of him instantly. Once the game was over, she would have to introduce herself to him without pretenses. "I'm Lena. Lena Fudge." She extended her hand. "Can I help you?"
He introduced himself, and Lena immediately forgot the man's name. Her dumb brain probably filed it away accidentally with all those ridiculous horse names and, well, she wasn't about to ask him for it again. He was soft-spoken and genial as they toured the barn. He was looking to make a purchase and had heard good things about the horseflesh down at Cooper Ranch. With or without that damn article in Reins, Lena thought mutinously. Weeks had passed since its publication, and Maxwell still couldn't let it go.
