by Tami Hoag
“Thanks,” he said, thanking heaven Katie was more open- minded than he had given her credit for.
“How did you get started?” she asked.
Nick let go of her and leaned back against the edge of the desk. “When I was trying to get discovered in New York, I found out there are a lot of good dancers but not many jobs. You have to be more than just a good dancer to make it on Broadway. I finally saw I didn't have the extra something and decided to set my sights on my other dream—the restaurant. But I needed money to make that dream come true. I heard the manager of a club was auditioning men for a high-class erotic show and figured why not? They wanted top dancers with imaginative acts to provide fun, escapist entertainment for ladies. The pay was high, and it sounded like I'd have a good time.”
“And the Highwayman was born,” Katie finished the story for him.
“You got it.” He reached out and caught her hand, just because he wanted to touch her. It seemed as if he never stopped wanting to touch Katie. “I gained a reputation, toured up and down the East Coast for two years until I had enough money for the down payment on the building I wanted. When that curb and gutter problem came up, this was the quickest way I knew of to get the money. Jack had made me a standing offer to come back anytime I wanted.”
“How long are you going to have to work here?”
“Two shows a night, two nights a week until the restaurant opens. Do you mind?”
“I mind that you have to work so hard. You're working day and night on your building, helping out at the Drewes mansion, and working here too.”
Nick smiled gently at the look of concern in her big gray eyes. He drew her into his arms and kissed her lightly. “Don't worry, kitten. Mama always said I had more energy than any ten kids. I can handle it and still have time left on my dance card for you.”
He glanced at the clock on the desk and sighed. “Right now I have to get ready for my next show.”
Katie slid her arms around his neck and gave him a long, thorough kiss. When she finished, she stepped back and winked at him. “Knock ‘em dead, Yankee.”
Nick grinned. Their relationship had survived the unmasking of his secret identity. The optimist in him predicted it would be smooth sailing from then on.
SIX
“SO WHAT'S HE like? Is he a nice guy or a jerk or what?” Nick asked, wishing he could watch Katie's gray eyes for her answers. He could sense the complexity of emotions in her as they drove west out of Briarwood on a climbing, winding road. She finally was taking him to meet her brother, who, according to rumor, was something of a hermit. Maggie had described him as impossible, cantankerous, and arrogant—and Nick was pretty sure she had a crush on the guy. He couldn't wait to meet Rylan Quaid.
“Rylan?” Katie rolled her eyes. “He's like a giant prickly pear: all spiny on the outside and soft on the inside. He's a tyrant. He's stubborn and owly and—”
“—and you love him,” Nick finished with a grin.
Katie smiled in return. Only Nick could have made that determination from what she had said. Sometimes he was too perceptive. She wondered if he picked up similar notes in her voice when she spoke of him, because what she was feeling for Nick these days was love, or at least the be ginnings of it. She had realized it the night at Hepplewhite's over a week ago, the night she had discovered his secret identity. Since then, scarcely an hour had gone by that she hadn't thought about her feelings for him.
She had been fretting for days about taking Nick to meet Ry. Ry was so overprotective of her. He had called her several times since word had reached his ears that his baby sister was going out with a man with a mysterious past. It had taken every threat Katie could think of to keep her brother from paying Nick a visit.
She had deliberately put off introducing them until rumors about Nick had died down and until Nick had established several good friendships with people she knew Ry respected. She wanted him to like Nick, but knew she would go on seeing Nick with or without her brother's blessing.
They rode in silence for a while. Instead of turning on the air conditioner to cool the warm spring air, Nick kept his window rolled down so he could drink in the rich scents of the Virginia countryside.
“Don't let him intimidate you,” Katie said suddenly.
Nick lifted an eyebrow. “Intimidate me?” She was talking about her brother the way she might talk about a Doberman.
“The idea won't sound so strange to you once you've met him.”
They turned in at a gravel drive that twisted up and around a hill so wooded, barely a drop of sunlight spilled through the canopy of green overhead. When they emerged from the trees at the top of the hill, pastures rolled before them like an emerald carpet. Sturdy, four- plank oak fencing marked one field from the next, separated one group of horses from another. The sign at the end of the first field read simply Quaid Farm.
“They're beautiful!” Nick said in awe as he slowed his sports car to a crawl. “When you said you grew up on a farm, I thought of pigs and cows and tractors and stuff. You never said anything about horses. What kind are they? Thoroughbreds?”
“Some of them,” Katie replied. “Some are Hanoverians, imported from Germany. We're experimenting with a crossbreeding program to combine the speed and agility of the Thorough bred with the size and superior temperament of the Hanoverian. They make excellent show jumpers.”
“We?” Nick questioned, more than a little impressed with her answer.
“I inherited part of the farm when Daddy died.”
She didn't tell him that she had tried to give it to Ry after her accident. She had so loved riding that when the doctors had told her she could never ride again, her first instinct had been to get completely away from it. To own part of the farm meant she had to express an interest in it. To drive down these lanes and walk through the stables knowing she could never get nearer than an arm's length away from these animals that had been the largest part of her life for seventeen years had been too painful to bear.
Ry had stubbornly refused to take her offer, however. Not only that, he had bullied her into becoming more involved in the management of the farm while she had been recuperating. She had hated him for it at the time, but now she thanked him. Instead of isolating herself, she took great pride in the stock they raised and trained.
Nick parked the car near the first of two long, white stables painted with royal- blue trim. The big doors on either end of the building had been rolled back, exposing two rows of box stalls separated by a wide aisle. He killed the engine and glanced at Katie. “Do you ride?”
“I used to,” she said, quickly unbuckling her seat belt and climbing out of the car, pulling the seat forward to let Watch out of the back. She already had decided this would be the day she would tell Nick. She had brought him there to do so. But she wanted to wait until they were alone and the moment was right.
She bypassed the office, heading down the wide aisle of the stable after Watch, who jogged along with his nose to the concrete floor. Nick danced along behind her, trying to take it all in at once— the oak walls and iron bars of the big box stalls, the smell of wood shavings and hay and horses, the sounds that echoed through the long building. He darted back and forth between the rows of stalls like an eager boy, wanting to see each and every horse up close.
“Damn!” The shout came from beyond the far end of the stable. Tools and curses flew.
Nick stopped dead in his tracks. “Sounds like he's in a bad mood.”
“He's always in a bad mood. Cease fire!” Katie called before stepping out of the building.
Nick took one look at Ry and knew instantly what Katie had meant about being intimidated. The man was six feet four if he was an inch, and he was built like a bull and looked as angry as one as he stood snarling and scowling at a blue and gray tractor. Sweat ran down his face and the sculpted muscles of his bare chest and abdomen, and had soaked into the waistband of his jeans. He wiped a hand across his forehead, slicking back his dark hair.
“Can you take time out from your swearing to say hello to your baby sister?” Katie asked dryly.
“Hi, princess.” Ry bent and pressed a kiss to her cheek, never taking his wary gaze off Nick.
Katie stepped back to make the introductions. “Nick, this is my foul- tempered brother, Rylan. Ry, meet Nick Leone.”
Ry glanced at his palm and smeared grease off it and onto the leg of his jeans. He clasped Nick's hand in a death grip. Nick gritted his teeth and squeezed right back, knowing the only way to gain the man's respect was to match him step for step.
“If this is going to turn into a bone- crushing contest, I'm leaving,” Katie said with a pointed look at her brother.
“It's a pleasure to meet you,” Nick said. “Katie's told me a lot about you.”
“Yeah,” Ry said, unsmiling. “I've heard a lot about you too.”
None of it good, by the tone of his voice, Nick thought.
“Why are you trying to dismember that poor machine?” Katie asked, more to divert her brother's attention than anything else. If she let Ry have his way, he'd give Nick the third degree. He'd have the thumbscrews out before dinnertime.
“Jeepers cripes, the stupid thing won't start for love or money, and I know damn well there's juice in the battery.” He scowled at the tractor as if he could intimidate it into behaving.
“Well, I don't think you can beat it into submission,” Katie said. “Why don't you stop being so cheap and stubborn and hire someone to fix it—someone who knows what he's doing.”
Hands on his hips Rylan stared down at his sister with a look that would have wilted most women and a lot of men. Katie didn't budge. “I'm not cheap, I'm thrifty.”
“You're so tight, you squeak,” she said with a laugh.
“Maybe the starter solenoid is bad,” Nick said, trying to get a better look at the tractor's engine. “We could pull it out and check it.”
“You know something about tractors?” Ry asked with his typical skeptical look.
Nick shook his head. “No, but I have a brother who rebuilds classic cars. I used to help him out once in a while.”
As the men became involved with the contrary machine, Katie leaned back against the sun-warmed wall of the stable and breathed a sigh of relief, murmuring a thank-you to the jewel- blue sky. Rylan was her brother and she loved him, but he was like a bomb that had to be carefully defused. The only things Rylan had patience with were animals. It was a huge relief to see him poking around the tractor with Nick in some kind of male- bonding ritual.
When the tractor had been thoroughly discussed and tinkered with, the three of them took a stroll back through the stables.
“Do you know anything about horses, Nick?” Ry asked, sliding back the heavy door to a box stall.
“I know which end runs under the finish line first,” Nick said with a grin, stepping into the stall behind Katie's brother. Katie stayed in the doorway. “But I don't have to be an expert to know this is a beautiful animal.”
The bay mare was huge, sleek, and exquisitely made. She stretched her long slender neck, nudging Nick's arm with her velvety nose, her limpid brown eyes alight with curiosity.
“Hang on to her halter,” Ry ordered as he squatted down to take the bandage off the mare's left front leg. He shot a glance over his shoulder to see how the city boy handled the task and looked pleased when he saw Nick stroking the mare's neck with one hand as he held on to her with the other. “She decided to go through a fence instead of over it. Tore up her leg.”
“Were you riding her when it happened?” Nick asked.
“No. Our trainer was on her. I like to ride, but my size is something of a hindrance when it comes to going over big fences.”
Nick looked to Katie, who was leaning back against the door frame, staring at the big horse with a strangely wistful expression. “Did you ever ride in shows?” he asked her.
Ry's head shot up, his gaze riveting on his sister.
“I used to,” Katie replied, butterflies taking wing in her stomach as she realized the moment of truth was drawing near. She was betting heavily on Nick's sensitivity and understanding, but there was just enough doubt in her to make her heart pound a little harder. She pushed away from the door, stepping out into the aisle.
Ry stood and patted the horse's shoulder absently as he watched Katie wander to the end of the barn to pet the dogs that had gathered there to sun themselves. He glanced at the first man his sister had brought to the farm in five years.
“Did I say the wrong thing?” Nick asked, confused by the brief flash of panic he'd seen in Katie's eyes.
“I reckon you better ask Katie that question,” Ry said quietly. “But before you do, let me tell you something. You break that little gal's heart, and you're gonna be in a world of hurt yourself, slick. Are we clear on that particular point?”
Nick stared right back into the steel- hard gaze of Rylan Quaid. “Like crystal,” he said. “You didn't have to warn me though. Hurting Katie is the last thing I want to do.”
Ry nodded slowly. “Then we'll get along just fine, you and me.”
“I think he likes you,” Katie said with a smile as they climbed the hill that overlooked the farm. She gave his hand a little squeeze to try to calm her jitters.
“How could you tell?” Nick couldn't decide if Ry had tolerated him or despised him.
“He didn't throw you out. He let you hold the mare's halter. Of course, that was a test.” They reached the top of the hill, and Katie gestured at the view of the farm. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”
Nick let his gaze settle on her, on the way the wind played with the ends of her long hair and the hem of her blue peasant skirt. The sun brought out the color in her cheeks. “Yes,” he said softly. “Beautiful is the word I would use.”
Katie turned and found herself in his arms. It was where she wanted to be. For the moment she pushed the thoughts of what she needed to tell Nick to the back of her mind. She needed to tell him, too, that she loved being in his arms, that she needed the feel of his mouth on hers. She drank in his kiss, memorizing the warm, silky texture of his tongue stroking hers, memorizing the way her breasts tingled as they flattened against his chest.
He pulled her down to the ground with him, gently laying her back but never breaking the kiss. His fingers quickly dispensed with the buttons on her cotton blouse and found her breasts. His blood flowed like fire in his veins as he felt her nipple bud beneath his thumb. Need tore through him.
The instant Nick's mouth closed over her breast, Katie was lost. She felt as if she were a beginner in the deep end of the swimming pool— drowning in sensation but not wanting to be saved. She had ignored her own sexuality for so long, now it was overwhelming her, sweeping away caution and sanity. She arched her back and bit into her lip as Nick sucked at her breast until it felt as if every nerve in her body were centered there. Her fingers dove into the thick silk of his hair, anchoring him in place as she moved restlessly beneath him, wanting more, wanting everything he could give her, wanting to give him everything in return.
Her responsiveness was fuel to the fire raging inside Nick. He had held back, waiting until Katie was ready to take the next step in their relationship, trying to content himself with hot kisses and cold showers. Suddenly contentment and waiting were the last things on his mind. He wanted to make love to her there, in the soft, sweet- smelling grass, with the sun burning down on his back and the breeze cooling the sweat on their skin.
Nick's hand stole beneath Katie's skirt. He stroked her soft inner thigh, snuck his fingers under the leg of her panties and found her warm and moist, as ready for him as he was for her. He held his breath against the surge in his loins as he eased a finger up inside her
and listened to her whimper her pleasure and her need. Kissing her as deeply as he could, he stroked her and teased her until he thought he would burst from wanting her.
“Let's get this skirt off you, kitten,” he whispered in a voice rough with desire. “I want to see you when we make love.”
Instantly the spell was broken. Nick wanted to see her body beneath the brilliant blue sky. With the perfection of nature all around them, she would be naked and imperfect.
“No,” she whispered. She sat up, pulling her blouse together, tucking her legs beneath her.
The look on Nick's face mixed astonishment and pure male anger. He pushed himself to his feet and glared down at Katie. “No? It's a little late in the game to say no, Kathryn.”
“I'm sorry,” Katie whispered. She felt lost and desolate, as if Nick were suddenly miles away instead of only a few feet in front of her. She hadn't meant to tease him. For a few moments passion had persuaded her to pretend there was no reason to hold back, then reality had intruded and reminded her there was every reason to hold back. She couldn't spring her imperfections on him. It wouldn't have been fair to Nick, and she knew she couldn't have stood seeing the desire die in his eyes at the sight of her scars.
Nick paced the grass in front of her, his whole body aching with frustration. “You can't push a man that far, then pull away, Katie.”
Glancing down at her, Nick cursed himself for losing his temper. Katie was on the verge of tears. The sight tore him apart inside. No matter what she'd done, he didn't want to make her cry. He dropped to his knees in front of her and stroked her hair back from her face. His breath billowed in and out of his lungs. “I know I said I'd wait until you were ready to make love with me, honey. I have waited. I thought now was the right time. I think, Katie, our relationship has reached the point where you can let me in the bedroom door instead of slamming it shut in my face.”
Katie stared down at her hands in her lap. She hadn't felt this miserable in a long time. All she could do was wonder who would have been slamming that imaginary door if she had let Nick undress her. How fast would his ardor have cooled if he had gotten to see her scars in the unkind light of day?
