Lone Wolf's Lady

by Beverly Barton

  “I had no idea Kizzie knew that I came up here. The woman’s too damn smart. She knows things she shouldn’t.”

  Deanna nodded toward the large rock Luke had recently vacated. “Mind if we sit down? I have some things to tell you. Important things that can’t wait.”

  Without uttering a word, Luke led Deanna over to the big rock, which was two-thirds enclosed by trees and shrubs. When she sat, he eased down beside her. Their hips almost touched.

  “So talk,” he said, but didn’t look at her.

  “I went to see my mother.”

  “And?”

  “She denied everything.”

  Luke drew in a deep breath, his vision focused on the old cabin site. “Did you actually think she’d admit anything?”

  Deanna wished Luke would look at her—really look at her—and see into her heart. “I believe that she killed Daddy or she knows who did. And she does not want me to remember what happened.”

  Luke snorted. “So you still think I’ve lost twenty head of cattle and had three hundred acres of grazing land temporarily ruined as a means to force you to leave town?”

  “I’m sorry.” She reached out and grasped his arm. He flinched, but didn’t jerk away from her. “The last thing I wanted was to hurt you again, but it seems that that’s all I can do. I—I’m leaving in the morning. But I’ll come back, when I remember who killed Daddy. And sooner or later, I will remember.”

  “Have you told Kizzie?”

  “Yes.” Deanna loosened her hold on Luke’s arm, then dropped her hand away and let it rest, palm open, on the rock beneath them.

  “What does she think about your leaving Montrose?”

  Deanna wasn’t sure she should tell Luke what his stepmother had said. She had no idea how he would react. But then she decided that there had been enough lies, enough secrets between them.

  “She thinks I’m allowing my family to blackmail me again. Kizzie thinks I should stay here.”

  Luke covered Deanna’s hand with his. “She’s right, you know. You’re not going to help yourself, or me, by running away.”

  The feel of Luke’s warm flesh against hers sent shivers along her nerve endings. It was a small gesture, one of comfort, and yet it touched her more profoundly than Luke would ever know. Tears misted her eyes.

  “But if I stay, someone in my family will continue the assault on Montrose. I have no idea what he’ll do next.”

  Luke squeezed Deanna’s hand. “The last time you allowed your family’s threats to dictate your actions, you testified against me in court. I went to prison for five years and you lost our child. Giving in to them was the wrong thing to do then and it’s the wrong thing to do now.”

  “But I can’t bear the thought of bringing more harm to you and your family.” Deanna shot up off the rock. Tears gathered heavily in the corners of her eyes.

  Luke stood, placing his big body behind her, and eased his hands from the top of her shoulders down to her wrists and back up again. Deanna shuddered. He slipped his arms around her and drew her up against his chest. Leaning back, the top of her head brushed his chin.

  “I don’t want you to go,” he whispered against her ear. “Stay, Deanna. Stay and we’ll see this through together.”

  “You believe me now, don’t you? You know that I’ve never lied to you.” Crossing her arms over her body, she hugged his arms around her.

  “Yeah, I guess I do believe you,” he admitted. “About the baby and about why you testified against me. You did suffer from some kind of amnesia after your Daddy was killed.”

  “I never meant to betray you, Luke.” She held on to him for dear life.

  Luke’s jaw moved awkwardly, clenching and unclenching, as he fought to control his emotions. Emotions he had thought long dead. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

  “Does this change anything?” she asked. “Does it change the way you feel about me?” Her heart rumbled in her ears like the roar of a hurricane hitting the shore. Please, dear Lord, please. Let him say he forgives me. Let him say that he doesn’t hate me anymore.

  “Yeah, it changes things. It makes me ashamed that I hurt and humiliated you that night at the motel.” He shifted her in his arms, bringing her around to face him. He grasped her shoulders and looked directly at her. “I...uh...I hated you for a long time. I blamed you for everything that went wrong—”

  “You had every right to blame me.” Tears streamed down Deanna’s face. “If I’d had the strength to stand up to my mother...if I hadn’t fallen to pieces on the stand the way I did...if—”

  “Shh...” Reaching up, he laid a finger over her lips. “We can’t change the past. All we can do is try to right the wrong and not let your family win this time.”

  “But how can we—”

  “You’re staying here on Montrose, with me. And when we know who killed your father, we can put the past behind us. You can go back to your life in Jackson with a clear conscience. You’ll have done all you could for me.”

  “But Luke, didn’t what happened between us this morning in the stables mean anything to you? I’d thought that you might have realized that you still care about me. Just a little, anyway.”

  Luke jerked her up against him, forcing her to feel his arousal. “I want you. I want you so bad I stay awake nights aching for you. I need you, babe. I need you more than I ever did.”

  “Oh, Luke!” She wrapped her arms around him and spread kisses all over his face. “I need you, too. So very much.”

  Luke grabbed her face in his big hands, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. “Wanting and caring are two different things, Deanna. I want you. There’s nothing I’d like more than to lay you down over there in the grass and make love to you. Right now. But I can’t tell you that I care for you. Not the way you mean. And I won’t lie to you. I don’t know if I can ever care about anyone, ever again.”

  She trembled from head to toe as huge sobs racked her body. “I did this to you. I killed all the love in you.”

  “Ah, babe, don’t do this to yourself. You aren’t the same girl who betrayed me anymore than I’m the same boy who loved you.”

  “Make love to me. Now. Here,” she pleaded. “It doesn’t matter that you can’t say you care. Our needing each other is enough.”

  “This isn’t fair to you,” he said.

  “It doesn’t matter.” She pulled his hands away from her face and led him toward a shaded expanse of thick green grass. “All that matters is this—” she pulled her cotton sweater over her head, tossed it on the ground and then removed her bra.

  Luke watched, mesmerized by each new inch of flesh Deanna revealed as she stripped away her clothes. His sex grew harder. He wasn’t going to be able to resist her. She was what he wanted. All that he wanted.

  Standing before him, naked and unashamed, Deanna held out her arms to him, inviting him to take what she was offering. To take all of her.

  Luke swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’re a beautiful woman.”

  He walked into her arms. And from the moment her body touched his, he was lost. Nothing else mattered but making love to Deanna. There was no past and no future. Only the here and now. And only the two of them.

  Chapter 12

  When Luke captured her in his embrace, she threw her arms around his neck, threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled his head down toward hers. Standing on tiptoe, she sought his mouth. His lips met hers in a kiss that robbed her of her breath and sent pinpricks of sexual longing throughout her body. Their tongues mated in a frenzy of need. Thrusting and retreating. Tasting and tempting. He cupped her naked buttocks and lifted her up and into his throbbing sex. She clawed at his shoulders, tugging on his shirt. He eased her slowly downward, against his body, allowing her enough freedom to grab the edge of his shirt and jerk open the snaps. She spread his shirt apart and pressed her breasts against his chest.

  The last rays of sunlight cast a soft gossamer light over the trees and shrubs, over the wildflowers and green grass,
and over their bodies. The smell of spring was in the air—fresh and alive, sweet and seductive. The verdant beauty surrounded them as they stared at each other and saw their mutual hunger reflected in each other’s eyes.

  Placing her hands on him, Deanna felt the fast, wild beat of his heart. He was so completely, overpoweringly masculine. He was man, with all the faults and flaws, and all the strengths and perfections.

  She gazed up into his eyes. “Luke.”

  He kissed her, ravaging her mouth, then nipped along the side of her neck. She moaned with pleasure. Her peaked nipples raked his chest as he maneuvered her body against his. She hurt with the wanting, her feminine core pulsating as moisture collected, preparing her body for his.

  Luke lowered her to the grass, all the while tearing away his shirt. The jade-green bed beneath her was thick and plush, cushioning the hard ground. The aroma of rich earth and pungent evergreens permeated the air. A gentle evening breeze wafted over them, but did nothing to cool their heated bodies. Deanna shuddered. She had dreamed of this moment, of Luke taking her with the same passion as he had in the past. She reached up, unbuckled his belt and unsnapped his jeans. He straddled her hips. He unzipped his jeans and tugged them down so that the waistband rested on his hips. When he lowered his mouth to her breast, she reached inside his briefs and circled his erection. He groaned deep in his throat, then captured a begging nipple between his teeth. Deanna bucked up off the ground, her hips thrusting forward, her sex seeking his. She freed him, then led him to the apex between her thighs.

  “I want you so,” she said as she brought him into her body.

  Luke plunged deeply. “Ah, Deanna.”

  She gave herself over completely to the desire that radiated through her, urging her to take everything she needed from him. And she needed so much.

  “You’re so wet and hot,” he murmured, his words slurred with passion.

  Luke braced some of his weight on his knees, but the bulk of him loomed over her, pressing into her with each forceful lunge. She loved the feel of him inside her, his big body surrounding her with his strength. She felt small and vulnerable and totally at his mercy, and yet more powerful than she’d ever felt in her life. The very fact that he was large and strong and dominant added to the excitement of his possession.

  “Yes, Luke. Oh, yes!” she cried out with the passion she couldn’t suppress. Her body was on fire, burning hotter and hotter with each renewed attack.

  Luke cupped her buttocks, lifting them higher so that he could lunge deeper, seeking the depths of her. Harder and faster, his need driving him on, he pounded into her. Deanna clung to him, her hips undulating to the frantic rhythm he had set. Her soft moistness clenched and unclenched as pure sensation claimed her. She was a mass of feelings—wild, aching, spiraling feelings. She tightened around him. Her fingernails bit into his back. The coiled spring of sexual tension snapped and released a flood of overwhelming physical pleasure. Her body trembled uncontrollably with the heartbeat of her climax.

  Her fulfillment triggered his. Moving furiously within her, he roared like a wild animal when fulfillment claimed him. Sweat coated their bodies as they clung to each other, their lips touching softly. Luke eased off Deanna. Draping his arm around her, he lifted her up and onto him. She lay there on top of him, her head resting on his shoulder. He kissed the side of her face and stroked her hip.

  She wanted to tell him that she loved him. That she had never stopped loving him. But Luke wouldn’t want to hear her declaration of love. Not now. Probably not ever.

  This had to be enough. This glorious closeness she felt. This sexual bond that she was sure Luke had never known with another woman.

  Kizzie maneuvered her Lexus into a parking slot at the post office, killed the motor and turned to Deanna. “Why don’t I drop you by Patsy Ruth’s after we get the mail? Luke could drive over and pick you up before supper tonight.”

  “I don’t think so,” Deanna opened the passenger door and stepped outside onto the asphalt parking lot.

  Kizzie got out of the car, rounded the hood and caught Deanna by the arm. “There’s no point in your sticking around Montrose all day, just waiting for something bad to happen. You’re nervous as a cat, girl, and you’re making me jittery.”

  “I’m sorry, but I know it’s only a matter of time before another accident happens.”

  “Lord knows I wish Tyler could do something about this whole business.” Kizzie stroked Deanna’s arm. “This has got to be terrible for you, not being able to trust your own family. I’m just sorry we didn’t realize how they treated you back when you testified against Luke. We didn’t understand the whole situation.”

  And you still don’t understand, Deanna wanted to say. Not the whole situation. No one outside her immediate family, and she included Eddie in that number, knew that she had suffered a complete mental breakdown and spent almost five years in a sanitarium. The same five years Luke had spent in prison.

  “We’re tempting fate, you know,” Deanna said. “My being on Montrose has already cost you twenty head of cattle and hundreds of acres in grazing land.”

  Kizzie grabbed Deanna’s shoulders. “Now, you listen here to me, girl. That twenty head can be replaced and the grass will grow back on those acres. Clearing Luke’s name and giving him a chance at life again is worth just about any risk. If he and his family are willing to take that risk, why shouldn’t you?”

  “Maybe I should leave. Maybe I—”

  Kizzie gave Deanna a resounding shake. “Don’t you even think about running. You have to stand up to your family. Show them that you aren’t that weak, immature girl who fell apart in front of the whole world and doomed Luke to a manslaughter sentence. You need to find your inner strength just as Luke needs to find his self-worth.”

  Deanna nodded. “You’re right. It’s just I have this gut feeling that something terrible is going to happen, and it’s going to be my fault.”

  “Don’t borrow trouble. We can’t predict if and when something’s going to happen. If we keep on worrying like this, we’ll be crazy as betsy bugs by the time whatever is going to happen happens.”

  “If only Tyler had found some proof of who killed the cattle and set the fire.”

  “Whoever’s doing your family’s dirty work is smart enough not to leave any evidence behind. My money is on Eddie Nunley. What do you think?”

  “Eddie’s a smart man, all right,” Deanna agreed. “And he’s devoted to my mother. I think he probably loves her. I don’t know that they’ve been lovers, but I suspect they have.”

  “There have been rumors,” Kizzie said. “Even before your daddy was killed.” Kizzie tugged on Deanna’s hand. “Let’s pick up the mail and then stop by Wellington’s and get the fixings for Alva’s chocolate chip cake. It’s Luke’s favorite and she’s going to teach you how to make it, isn’t she?”

  Deanna followed Kizzie into the small brick building that housed the post office.

  “Alva believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Deanna said.

  “Yeah, that’s partly true. His stomach and a part of his anatomy that’s a little lower.”

  Deanna laughed, releasing the tension that tormented her. Kizzie was right. She couldn’t continue in this state of nervous worry. She was at the point now that the least little noise scared her senseless.

  Kizzie spoke to two ranchers who were picking up their mail. When they stared at Deanna, Kizzie introduced her and didn’t react at all when they murmured among themselves as she and Deanna gathered the Montrose mail, bought stamps and mailed a package.

  The moment they walked outside, Kizzie huffed loudly. “Darn old busybodies. Hurt Medford and Earl Frost are worse than a bunch of women at a church social about gossiping. I’ll bet meeting up with us just made their day. The whole county’s buzzing with the news that you’re living at Montrose.”

  “They’ll really have something to talk about when I remember who killed Daddy and can clear Luke’s name.�
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  “Let’s hope that happens real soon.”

  Deanna and Kizzie made their rounds in town and headed home for Montrose. Distant thunder warned of impending rain.

  “We sure could use a good soaking,” Kizzie said. “Things are getting pretty dry.”

  “Are you afraid of another fire?” Deanna asked.

  “Now, don’t go reading anything into a harmless comment. What you should do is find something to take your mind off things. You really should go visit Patsy Ruth or have her and that passel of kids out to the ranch.”

  “All right. All right.” Deanna clutched the bundle of mail in her hands. “I’ll drive over and spend the day with Patsy Ruth tomorrow. She’s called several times and invited me. It’s just...well, I suppose I think I should be at Montrose in case something does happen.”

  By the time Kizzie parked the Lexus at the side of the house, huge raindrops were plunking down out of the sky. She grabbed the sack of groceries, while Deanna held the mail against her chest, and the two of them made a mad dash toward the porch. Alva swung the door open, took the sack from Kizzie and stepped aside to allow them entrance. Deanna ran her hand through her damp hair and thought that it was probably curling around her face as it always did when it was wet.

  “There was a phone call for you, Miss Deanna,” Alva said.

  “From whom?” Deanna asked.

  “They didn’t leave a name. But it was a man.”

  A sense of foreboding hit Deanna like a jolt of electricity. “Did he leave a message?”

  “Sure did. And a right peculiar message it was.”

  “What was it?” Kizzie glanced at Deanna and the two women shared a moment of anxious anticipation.

  “The man said, ‘Tell Deanna Atchley she’ll be better off without Luke McClendon.’ Don’t you think that’s odd?”

  Sour bile rose from Deanna’s stomach, burning a trail up her throat. “A threat. Oh, my God!”

  “Luke!” Kizzie cried.