Dakota Dreamin'

by Janet Dailey

  "There wasn't any reason for that fight," Edie remembered in a surge of impatience. "They were letting me go when you showed up."

  "It didn't look that way to me." The darkness of the alley enveloped them, and Maddock made his way to the rear door by instinct alone. "Either way, it's spilled milk now." He rapped on the wooden door.

  "As usual a woman has to clean up the mess," she murmured with the sharp edge of her tongue.

  "As usual she does." His Soft chuckle mocked her irritated response.

  The door was opened by a portly, balding man in a tightly collared shirt with a string tie. His frowning glance widened to an open stare of shock as the interior light illuminated Maddock's face.

  "It isn't as bad as it looks, Tubby," Maddock assured the man in a dryly weary voice. But Edie felt the same start of shock at the smeared blood and purpling flesh around his cheekbone and jaw. She had taken care of too many of her children's cuts and bruises not to realize that Maddock's assessment was probably accurate.

  "Come in, Will." The owner opened the door wider to admit them. "Sit here in my office and I'll get a wet cloth and the first-aid box."

  The stout man disappeared, leaving the private office through an interior door where the sounds of loud voices and a jukebox filtered into the room. Edie helped Maddock into a straight-backed chair beside the desk littered with papers, rolls of register tape and delivery slips. Within-seconds the owner returned with a clean, wet cloth and the first-aid kit. Edie took the cloth and knelt down to begin carefully wiping the blood smears from Maddock's face. The owner hovered beside her, gritting his teeth and making faces as if he was the patient.

  "Do you think that cut will need stitches?" he asked. "Maybe I should call a doctor?"

  The wound had already stopped bleeding. Edie studied it carefully. "It isn't as deep as it looks. I don't think it will need stitches," she concluded, but she was well aware that if it had been half an inch higher, it would have been his eye that was cut. Her concern was overridden by irritation at his senseless risk that could have resulted in permanent injury. Her mouth thinned into a grimly angry line.

  "Is there anything else I can do?" the owner offered. "Anything you need?"

  "I think we can manage alone," Maddock replied. "Thanks, Tubby."

  "I'll go out front and give Mike a hand at the bar. If you need me, just shout," the man insisted.

  "We will." After the door latch had clicked shut, Maddock caught her eye with a glinting look. "The poor guy can't stand the sight of blood."

  "It's a shame you don't suffer from the same problem. Maybe you wouldn't have ended up looking like this." Her glance slashed over his face. There hadn't been as much damage as it had first appeared. Except for the gash on his cheekbone, there was a bruise along his jaw and a purpling area near the cut. It could easily have been much worse.

  Setting the stained, wet cloth aside, Edie opened the first-aid kit and removed a bottle of iodine. She used the applicator attached to the lid and dabbed some of the antiseptic into a corner of his wound. Maddock breathed in with a sharp, hissing sound and recoiled.

  "Hold still," she ordered without sympathy, and applied more iodine.

  "Ouch!"

  "I'd like to know what it is about iodine that can turn grown men into little boys—the same grown men that take fists in their face without a whimper," she mocked him with a trace of acidity.

  His gray eyes danced wickedly, not taking offense as they met her look. "Maybe I'm missing the soothing hand on my brow."

  "You're getting just what you deserve." She added an extra amount of iodine to what had already been applied.

  "I was under the impression that a woman liked to have men fight over her," he mocked.

  "Not this woman," Edie retorted. "I don't think it ever occurred to you that someone could have been seriously hurt. You could have injured your eye, possibly lost the sight in it." She recapped the iodine bottle and straightened to return it to the first-aid kit.

  Maddock caught her wrist and turned her around to face him as his strong features tilted up to view her expression. His steady gaze seemed to penetrate behind her mask of irritation.

  "I was beginning to think you didn't care," he murmured.

  "It was stupid of you to fight." She found it difficult to retain her lack of patience with him. "You're too old for that sort of thing."

  "Too old?" He laughed heartily and pulled her onto his lap. "I come to the aid of a damsel in distress and she accuses me of being too old!"

  "I didn't mean it that way," she protested. How could she when she was so fully aware of the powerful strength of bas arms encircling her and his potent male vitality. The heat of his body was already stealing the force of her anger and kindling an entirely different response. "I meant you should have had more sense."

  "Where you're concerned, Edie, I seem to have lost all ability to reason," he murmured, and narrowed the distance between their lips until she felt the warmth of his breath against her skin. "Hadn't you noticed?"

  "No," she whispered.

  As his mouth settled onto her lips in a deep, searching kiss, her eyes closed and her arms found their way around his neck. In his arms she found the fulfillment her heart had been seeking. Emotion swelled within her in a floodtide of intense longing.

  His hand roamed over her stomach and ribs and burned through the soft fabric covering her breast. Tremors of desire quivered through her, caused by his caress. The driving pressure of his kiss told of his need, assuring her that she was not alone in this golden spiral of feelings.

  There was a rough possession in the kisses he burned into her face and neck, claiming every inch of her. "I'm not convinced anymore that any man can arouse you like this, Edie," he murmured thickly. "You are showing me more than a purely sexual response."

  She rubbed her lips against his throat, savoring the taste of his skin. "I'm not sure what I'm thinking or feeling." With each drumming beat of her heart, she was becoming more sure of the love growing inside her for this man, but she kept it silent, betraying it not by word but by deed.

  Maddock sighed and reluctantly lifted his head. His gray eyes smoldered with barely disguised impatience and desire, yet his actions were controlled. He removed his hand from her breast and forced it to wander restlessly to her shoulder.

  "Tubby will be coming back to see how we're doing," he answered the question that was in her eyes. "I think we should leave."

  "Yes," she agreed, and let him help her off his lap. "It's time I was going home." She was disappointed when Maddock failed to make an alternative suggestion.

  "I'll walk you to your car," was his only offer.

  Edie waited by the back door while Maddock let the owner know they were leaving and thanked him for the help. He took her hand to lead her out of the alley to the lighted street and walked with her the half block to her car. He opened the driver's door for her and waited until she was behind the wheel to shut it.

  "My car is parked around the corner," he said. "I'll follow you to make sure you get home in one piece."

  "Okay." She smiled an instant agreement, glad that she hadn't seen the last of him this night.

  Shortly after Edie pulled onto the highway, she saw the headlights of Maddock's car reflected in her rearview mirror. It made her feel warm and wanted inside. All her adult life she had been the one who looked after others. It was a novel experience to have someone looking after her. She rather liked the feeling.

  The drive to the ranch didn't seem as long with his headlights winking in her mirror. There was a soft curve to her lips as she stopped the car in front of the house and climbed out. She waited for Maddock while he parked behind her car and stepped out.

  "Would you like to come in for coffee?" she invited as he approached. "It won't take long to fix some. "

  "I was hoping you'd ask," he replied, and took her arm as they climbed the porch steps to the front door.

  Once inside, Edie paused to turn on a light. "Make yourself co
mfortable while I go to the kitchen and fix the coffee."

  She had already started in that direction when Maddock called her name quietly yet insistently. "Edie?"

  She stopped and half turned. "Yes?"

  He walked up to her and stopped. "Coffee was just an excuse. We both know that."

  Her pulse accelerated its tempo and she suddenly had difficulty breathing. All conscious thought was swept aside by the dark intensity of his gray eyes, urgent and compelling. His hands curved onto the soft curves of her shoulders, applying pressure to draw her toward him. The moment became prolonged as he slowly bent his head and nuzzled the sensitive curve of her neck. A sigh of aching pleasure whispered from her lips.

  She was absently amazed that someone so powerfully built could be so gentle yet firm. But Maddock seemed to be made from a series of contradictions. Here was a man strong enough to be gentle, ruthless enough to be kind and arrogant enough to be vulnerable. His hands could easily crush her, yet he relied on the dominating influence of his demanding kisses to obtain her surrender. He didn't take, but convinced her to give. He was a man hard enough to have a big heart.

  "Edie, we've outgrown the stage of playing waiting games," he murmured, and lifted his head to frame, her face with his large hands. His callused skin was pleasantly abrasive, a rough caress. "Leave that to Felicia and Jerry. We don't have any reason to play hard to get and those other games. It wastes too much precious time that we could be enjoying in other ways."

  "I'm not playing any games." Her emotions were much too serious to be toyed with. She hoped he knew that.

  "I want to make love to you, Edie." The determination in his voice started a fluttering in the pit of her stomach. "It's what you want, too. Don't try to deny it."

  "I won't, Maddock." But she lowered her gaze to the leather stitching on his buckskin vest, feeling the tremors start.

  "We've both been married. It isn't as if we don't know the score," he insisted, and lowered his hands to the sides of her neck, his thumbs caressing her throat. A stillness came over him as he felt the faint tremors quaking through her body. "You're trembling. What's wrong?"

  "Nothing is wrong." Not really. It was more a case of nerves than anything else. It certainly wasn't a lack of wanting on her part. "It's just that I've never been to bed with any man other than my husband."

  "I know that." He smiled into her uplifted gaze, but the puzzled light remained in his gray eyes.

  "Don't you see?" The corners of her mouth deepened in a self-mocking smile. "It would be like the first time all over again."

  A wondrous light flared in his eyes. "My God, Edie," he breathed and gathered her into his arms, rubbing his cheek against the softness of her hair. A shudder vibrated through his muscled frame. "That's the most beautiful thing you could have said to me."

  "It isn't that I don't want you to make love to me, Maddock. It's just that I—" A pickup rumbled into the ranch yard. Edie drew back. "It must be Jerry coming home."

  After taking a deep breath and releasing it, Maddock gave a wry shake of his head and let her go. Outside, a pair of truck doors slammed shut. "And I thought it was only married couples who were interrupted by inquisitive children," he murmured suggestively.

  A smile was tugging at the corners of Edie's mouth when Alison burst into the house. "Mom, there's a strange car parked…outside." The last word was tacked belatedly on after Alison noticed Maddock standing near Edie. "What are you doing here?" Surprise increased her natural bluntness.

  "I was just making sure your mother arrived home safely," Maddock replied, and exchanged a speaking glance with Edie.

  "When I heard the truck," Edie spoke up to divert the subject, "I thought it was Jerry. I didn't expect to see you come through the door."

  "Oh, Jerry's home, too." Alison glanced over her shoulder just as her half-brother entered the house. His glance stopped curiously on Maddock, too.

  "You both came home together?" Edie looked at the two of them with faint surprise. "But I thought—"

  "It made more sense for me to ride with Rob as far as the Diamond D Ranch and come home from there with Jerry after he'd dropped Felicia off," Alison explained the arrangement, then cocked her head to one side to study Maddock. "What happened to your face? It looks as if you've been in a fight?"

  He touched the iodine-coated gash on his cheekbone as if he had forgotten the wound. "I fell down and cut myself," he lied blandly.

  "It must have been some fall," Jerry observed skeptically. "You cut one cheek and bruised the jaw on the other side."

  Edie knew they weren't going to be fooled by Maddock's story. "There was a very minor incident tonight," she admitted.

  "What happened, mom?" Alison moved quickly to her side and Jerry followed.

  Maddock answered the question. "Some young men were getting fresh with your mother. I merely reminded them of their manners." His glance ran over the three of them, standing together, side by side. Wry amusement flickered across his features. "The Three Musketeers are united again," he murmured.

  "One for all and all for one," Alison returned brightly.

  "I'm having a few friends over for a barbecue tomorrow. I'd like you to come." He looked at Edie as he offered the invitation, but his gaze quickly encompassed the three of them. "All of you."

  Edie was aware of the shocked silence emanating from her daughter and stepson, but she felt absolutely no hesitation about accepting his invitation. So much had changed in the space of one evening. She simply couldn't regard Maddock as an enemy any longer.

  "Thank you, Maddock. It sounds fun," she smiled under the intimate look in those gray eyes.

  "Come early—around eleven-thirty. I want to show you around my home." The softness of his voice carried its own message.

  Typically, he left without a goodbye, but Edie discovered she was becoming used to that. With his departure Jerry and Alison finally had a chance to voice their curiosity. Jerry was first.

  "What's going on, Edie?" he frowned.

  "Yes," Alison echoed his question. "Why do we suddenly rate an invitation to Sunday dinner?"

  Edie had a lot of guesses of her own, but she only voiced the safest one. "Maybe he's finally decided that we are here to stay."

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  Chapter Ten

  THE DIAMOND D ranch house was a white, two-story building with a pillared front. It faced the ranch buildings and had a spectacular view of the rough and broken Dakota terrain. This was Edie's first glimpse of the ranch headquarters, and she stared openly at its structures and network of corrals.

  By the time Jerry had parked the car in front of the house, Maddock was outside to greet them. "Welcome to the Diamond D." He reserved a warm look for Edie, "I'm sorry Felicia isn't on hand to greet you, but she's still upstairs getting ready. Come inside."

  His hand rested in light possession on the back of her waist as he personally escorted Edie to the front door with Jerry and Alison trailing behind them. The foyered entrance to the house included a staircase to the second floor. To the right, decorated in soft rusts and golds, was the living room where Maddock began his tour of the house. A fireplace built of native stone gave the room a relaxed, comfortable air.

  "There are three fireplaces in the house, two downstairs and one upstairs," Maddock explained as he led them into the dining room.

  There was an informal quality about the room. It was easy for Edie to imagine Maddock sitting at the head of a tableful of guests, discussing the ranch or politics or something as basic as Johnny's first tooth. Despite the richness of the solid walnut table, chairs and sideboard, there was something essentially casual about the room.

  A cook was busy in the kitchen with preparations for the noon barbecue, so they didn't linger long there. But Edie did notice it was equipped with all the latest conveniences, with plenty of work space and a breakfast nook.

  The last room he showed them on the ground floor was the den, paneled in knotty pine with leather-upholstered furn
iture. The bookshelves were lined with volumes on animal husbandry and agriculture interspersed with a selection of novels. Issues of ranch-related magazines were scattered around the room, giving it a lived-in look. A second fireplace was located in the den, constructed of burned brick.

  As they returned to the foyer, Edie realized this was definitely a rancher's house where a man could feel free to walk in straight from the ranch yard without worrying greatly about what he tracked onto the floors. He could bring in a newborn calf, half-frozen by a winter's storm, and let the warmth of the kitchen nurse it back to life. Despite its imposing size, it was a home.

  "We'll have the barbecue on the patio in the backyard by the pool." He paused beside the thermo-paned glass doors that opened from the foyer onto the patio. "Last night I forgot to suggest that you bring your swimming suits along, but there's a small selection of styles and sizes that we keep on hand for guests in the changing room."

  "Look!" Alison pointed to an object out of Edie's sight, "There's Rob."

  "Yes," Maddock affirmed her statement. "He's helping set up the tables."

  "Let's give him a hand, Jerry." Alison was quick to find a reason to see him again.

  "Go ahead," Maddock nodded when Jerry hesitated to agree with his half-sister's suggestion. "We'll be out shortly." As the two slid open the glass doors, the hand on Edie's back applied pressure to steer her away from the doors. Maddock wandered, apparently aimlessly, to the center of the foyer. "That concludes the tour of the house, with the exception of the upstairs," he corrected with a glance at the staircase. "There are five bedrooms in all, counting the master suite." He turned her around to face him, resting his hands on her hips. "What do you think of it?"

  "Between the house and the ranch buildings, I'm convinced we'll never be able to approach your scale of operation," Edie admitted. "If your intention was to impress me, you've succeeded."