But Mac remained silent.
“Mac, it’s no use. I can’t sleep here,” she insisted, trying to thrash dramatically around in the bed. His inexorable grip allowed only some minor twitching. “Mac, I mean it. Let me go.”
“No.”
She tried to hold on to her temper. She shouldn’t blame him because he didn’t view their sexual union as one of the highlights of his life, though it was certainly one of the highlights of hers. It was the highlight, Kara reminded herself strickenly. If a tape had been spliced together featuring the highlights of her life, it would’ve been blank. Until tonight.
“This is all so easy for you,” she accused.
She’d been so easy for him. And though she didn’t regret his seduction, she did regret her whole-hearted participation. Kara knew herself too well to believe that she would have fallen into bed with just any man, simply because he was willing and available. One did not remain a virgin until twenty-six years of age under those circumstances.
No, she’d made love with Mac Wilde because, in the course of two confusing and chaotic, wild and wonderful days, she had fallen madly, passionately and deeply in love with him.
Kara stifled a sob. She wanted—needed—to hear him say that their lovemaking had meant something to him, that she meant something to him besides a mail-order convenience.
But Mac interpreted her statement literally. “Easy?” He grinned. “Of course. I just made love to my future bride and now it’s time to go to sleep. Together.”
He felt fabulous, on top of the world. Certainly, he hadn’t felt this sense of optimism and pure well-being for months. Maybe never. Mac closed his eyes. This was neither the time nor the place for reflective introspection. Not that he had much knowledge of such esoteric pastimes. He’d never been the introspective type, but he was sure of this one thing: Reverend Will Franklin had done him one hell of a favor when he’d suggested sending for Kara.
He would have to thank the Rev with a generous donation to the church bell-tower fund or something similar, Mac decided as he drifted into sleep.
Kara lay still, listening to Mac’s breathing grow deeper and slower. She decided a change in tactics was in order. Arguing with Mac about sleeping alone was clearly a lost cause. He had stubbornly decided that she was to spend the night here with him and wasn’t about to be convinced otherwise. So she would wait until his permission was not needed.
The moment she was certain he was asleep, she would slip out of his bed and this room and retreat to the privacy of the guest room next door. Kara lay quietly, wondering when she should make her move. A glowing languor suffused her entire body. Despite her emotional agitation, her body was inordinately relaxed, and the physical relaxation began to overtake her mind.
The room was dark and quiet. Mac had pulled the thick quilt over them, protecting them from the chill in the air. The furnacelike warmth of his body next to hers was cozily enervating. Her eyelids grew heavy. It took so much effort to keep them open that she finally gave up and let them drift shut.
Kara breathed a drowsy sigh. She would lie here for a few more minutes and then get up. Just a few more minutes....
Eight
The insistent buzz of the alarm clock jerked Kara out of a deep sleep. Beside her, Mac groaned and fumbled with the clock before finally shutting it off. Her eyes snapped wide open as the shocking realization dawned....
She was nude in Mac’s bed!
Erotic memories of the night before swept over her, along with her ill-fated plan to sneak back into the other room. Instead, she’d fallen asleep in Mac’s arms and slept with him the whole night through. Naked!
“Stay in bed and go back to sleep,” Mac ordered huskily. “I’ve got to call the kids for school, but you might as well—”
“I’ll get up.” Kara quickly bounced out of the bed and fled to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her. And locked it.
Mac heard the telltale click of the lock, and a small smile played around the corners of his mouth. Her modesty amused him. Certainly, her reluctance for him to see her nude this morning was in sharp contrast to her uninhibited passion last night.
Last night. He smiled in remembrance as the sensual memories of certain unforgettable and irresistible scenes rewound in his mind. And along with the feelings of satisfaction and completion from last night came a powerful surge of tenderness. For Kara. She had been so sweet and innocent, yet so passionate and willing.
He had been her first lover. A possessive thrill ran through him. And he would be her only lover. Her husband. He realized that he was eagerly anticipating their wedding, rather than merely resigned to it.
Mac padded to the window, naked, and opened the thick curtains. It was a dismal day, gray and cloudy, with rain pounding against the glass. But the weather did not dampen his high spirits. Whistling cheerfully, he retrieved his toweling robe from the floor, pulled it on and headed out to begin the day.
* * *
Kara slipped another stack of buckwheat pancakes onto Brick’s plate, marveling at his capacity for food. This was his third serving. Autumn was still working on her first helping that she’d drowned in maple syrup. Lily desultorily sipped tea and nibbled on a piece of toast. Since Clay hadn’t yet fully recovered enough to return to school, he was still asleep in his room.
Tai marched into the kitchen, his tail held high, and announced his arrival with a robust meow.
“Tai slept in my bed last night,” said Autumn. “When I woke up, he was in the middle of it. He kind of hogged the bed, but I didn’t mind,” she added graciously.
Tai demanded and was served his breakfast, and he turned his attention to it, ignoring the humans.
“Isn’t this great? Having a real home-cooked breakfast!” Mac exclaimed enthusiastically, as he polished off his third stack of buckwheat cakes. “When was the last time we didn’t have something cold or nuked in the microwave for breakfast?” He smiled at Kara. “The Rev was right. You really are a good cook, Kara.”
“Judging by that gleam in your eye and that bounce in your step and your ungodly cheerful mood this morning, cooking isn’t all she’s good at,” Lily drawled.
Kara blushed scarlet and nearly dropped the electric skillet she was lifting into the sink to wash.
“Lily!” Mac admonished, but he did not sound angry or condemning. He sounded...ungodly cheerful.
“What does Lily mean?” Autumn demanded, reaching for yet more syrup.
Mac moved it out of her reach. “It means we’re all very glad that Kara is here to fix us breakfast.”
Autumn lunged for the syrup. Mac moved it even farther away from her. The little girl scowled, then turned to her older brother, an unholy gleam in her dark eyes. “Brick, why are you wearing a plain old white T-shirt and jeans to school today? It’s Wacky Tacky Day, Joanna Franklin said so. You’re supposed to wear some weird outfit and be in a geek fashion show today.”
“What?” Brick nearly choked on the milk he was swallowing. “What are you talking about?”
“Uh-oh,” Lily murmured ominously.
Autumn gleefully recounted Joanna Franklin’s description of the day’s festivities.
Brick slammed his empty glass down on the table. “I’m not going,” he announced. “I’ll be damned if I’ll dress up like some freakoid and parade around the school! Nobody can make me go,” he added, sending a challenging glare at his uncle.
Mac instantly rose to the challenge. “Brick, you have to go to school. You weren’t there yesterday and you’ve already missed too many days.”
“Well, I’m going to miss another one,” Brick interjected defiantly. “Today.”
He stood. So did Mac.
“Would you two mind postponing the zany shenanigans for a while?” Lily heaved an exasperated sigh. “It’s only seven o’clock in the morning.”
Kara glanced from Mac to Brick. Both were bristling with male determination and pride. She saw Autumn’s smile of satisfaction as the little instigator snatched
the now-forgotten bottle of syrup and poured it over the already soggy buckwheat cakes.
“I don’t mind if Brick stays home today,” Kara dared to say. It was either cower silently and watch another Wilde chase-and-shout episode erupt, or try to intervene. “He can help keep Clay entertained, you know, play video games with him, help him with the make-up work the teacher has sent home, those sorts of things.”
“Okay,” Brick agreed, beaming his triumph.
“What make-up work?” Mac asked, momentarily distracted. But only momentarily. “The boy is not staying home, Kara. This is not about making choices or choosing sides.” He looked as furious with Kara’s intervention as Brick was pleased.
“She said I can stay and I’m listening to her, not you,” Brick taunted.
“The always dependable divide-and-conquer strategy.” Lily looked bored. “It worked so well with Uncle James and Aunt Eve that they were on the verge of divorce before they decided we weren’t worth the use of our insurance money, and sent us out here.”
“I don’t blame Brick for having strong feelings about this dress-like-a-nerd day,” Kara said with a calm she was far from feeling. “There was something similar in the junior high school I attended. It was called Nerd Day and everybody was supposed to dress in their most stupid out-of-it clothes. I was in the eighth grade and new to the school. We’d just moved a few months before, and the clothes they wore were different from what we’d worn at my old school. Well, the inevitable happened on Nerd Day. Some of the girls came to school dressed just like me. I realized that I was the nerd role model.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t a very good day.”
“Wow! It really must have stunk to be you!” Brick exclaimed.
“Well, I think those girls were mean!” Autumn cried, indignant. “I hope they get kidnapped, I hope they get eaten by cannibals and—”
“It was a long time ago, Autumn,” Kara interrupted the hexing. “But the underlying result of those kinds of days is that somebody always ends up getting hurt.”
“There are some serious geeks at school and I bet some of the Snot Brigade will dress up like them today,” Brick said thoughtfully. His brows narrowed. “But Jimmy and I won’t let them get away with it. We’ll beat the crap out of those creeps for hurting the poor geeks’ feelings!” His eyes glowed with righteous fervor as he turned to his uncle. “I’m going to school today, Uncle Mac. I have to be there. I’ll go get my books.” He stalked from the room.
“I’ll get mine, too,” called Autumn, rushing after him. “I wish our school had Wacky Tacky Day and I could beat up people to help the geeks, too.”
“Brick the Avenging Crusader,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Inspired by Wacky Tacky Day. But hey, he’s going to school of his own free well. You’re good, Kara,” she added admiringly.
Mac smiled. “She’s nothing less than brilliant.” He crossed the kitchen and settled his hands on her waist. “Coming up with that maudlin story was a master stroke of psychology. Brick’s actually eager to go to school.” He pulled her closer and rubbed her nose against his. “Thanks for keeping me from whipping up another major scene, sweetie. Your way was much more effective.”
“At least until Brick begins bloodying all those wacky, tacky students,” Lily pointed out.
“They’re keeping him on a short leash at the school, he won’t get the chance to fight,” said Mac. “Just getting him there today was victory, and we owe it to Kara.”
His hands smoothed over her pink-and-white striped cotton wrapper which she’d pulled on for her flight to the kitchen this morning. The presence of the kids, combined with the mundane breakfast chores, allowed her to keep her equilibrium. After the tumultuous passion of last night, she needed stabilizing.
But here was Mac, gazing down at her with dark hungry eyes, fondling her as if they were lovers. Kara trembled. As of last night, they were lovers. She was no longer a virgin. She had a lover. Her body flared with a hot urgency; she felt as if the world was tipping off its axis.
Mac tried to slip his hands under her wrapper. He would have kissed her, then and there, but Kara deftly slipped away from him. The small intimacies—with Lily as an interested observer—were more than she could handle so early in the day. Especially after such a wild soul-shattering night.
“You thought my Nerd Day story was maudlin?” she asked lightly, striving to create some very necessary distance between them. Necessary for her. Mac was moving in on her again, seemingly striving to get closer.
“Watch it, Uncle Mac,” warned Lily. “What you meant to say was that it was a cute but corny story, right?”
Mac grinned. “Right.”
Kara was nonplussed that they thought she’d deliberately made up the Nerd Day tragedy to prod Brick into defensive action. That maudlin, cute but corny, story had been true, and this was the first time she had ever related her humiliation to anyone. She’d shared the painful memory to let Brick know she understood his reluctance to participate in the dress-up day, that she’d once been a new student among unsympathetic classmates and had suffered the insecurities of not fitting in.
Apparently not only Mac but all the Wildes had misinterpreted her this time.
Brick and Autumn traipsed back into the kitchen, lugging their bookbags. Behind them was Webb Asher, wearing the cowboy uniform of jeans, boots and faded flannel shirt.
“The kids let me in.” Webb explained his presence. “Since it’s raining, we won’t be out on the range. I thought the boys would do some work in the barns today?” At Mac’s nod of assent, he continued. “I have to pick up a few things in town, so I figured that as long as I’m headed that way, I might as well drive this gang into school.”
“Great!” Brick enthused. “We don’t have to ride that dorky old bus!”
“Or sit in the dorky Jeep, waiting for it to come,” added Autumn.
“The Jeep isn’t dorky,” Mac protested. He’d cornered Kara by the sink and pulled her back against him, wrapping his arms around her waist. “The school bus stop is on the main road at the end of the drive. When it rains, I’ve been driving the kids to the stop, so they can wait for the bus in the Jeep and keep out of the rain.”
“That fun job will be yours when you marry Uncle Mac, Kara,” Lily said dryly. “Just one of the many perks that comes with the live-in position as Mrs. Mac Wilde.”
“I could name a few other perks that she will enjoy very much,” Mac murmured suggestively, nibbling on the curve of Kara’s neck. She blushed and tried to casually disengage his grip on her. When her efforts came to naught, she twisted and squirmed to deny him access to her neck. He lifted his lips but held her firmly against him.
“I can name a perk, too,” Autumn boasted. “The satellite dish!”
Everyone in the kitchen grinned, even Kara.
“Grab your books, schoolgirl,” Webb commanded Lily. “You don’t want to be late, do you?”
Kara turned her head sharply. There was something taunting, something provocative in the ranch manager’s tone which caught her attention.... Her eyes swung to Lily who was strolling across the kitchen, her hips swiveling sexily, her dark eyes locked with Webb’s.
“Thanks a million for driving them, Webb,” Mac said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Oh, so do I,” Lily said, seconding him. She was standing before Webb, giving him a smile that was at once sultry and challenging and inviting.
Kara gaped at the pair. Was Lily playfully baiting the man again, or was she more deeply involved with him? Could he be her secret lover? Though she tried, Kara couldn’t gauge Webb’s response to the girl. His eyes were cool and assessing as he held Lily’s gaze, but what did that mean?
Kara swallowed and anxiously glanced up at Mac. Did he sense some sexual undercurrent between Lily and the ranch manager? But Mac was studying her intently, not even glancing in Webb and Lily’s direction.
“Clay is still sacked out,” Mac murmured in her ear. “Since neither of us has had a shower this morning, let�
��s save time and hot water and do it together.”
Kara’s heart leapt to her throat. She was so rattled by Mac’s wicked grin and his titillating suggestion, she was scarcely aware that the others were on their way out of the kitchen, heading toward the front door.
Mac, on the other hand, was acutely aware of the exact moment of their departure. He scooped Kara up in his arms and strode from the kitchen, down the zigzagging corridor, into his bedroom.
He closed the door behind him, pausing to lock it before he took her mouth in a deep, hungry kiss. Still held high in his arms, Kara clung to him, locking her hands around his neck, desire spinning through her with tornadolike force. His tongue plunged deep inside her mouth and she rubbed it, teased it deeper. She had learned a lot about kissing since her arrival in Montana, she thought dizzily, as the last vestiges of control slipped away from her.
Kara surrendered to the consuming fire of their kisses. She was excruciatingly aware of every sensual aspect of her lover: the muscular strength of his arms holding her, the solid pressure of his chest against the burgeoning fullness of her breasts, the coffee and maple syrup taste of his mouth and the penetrating heat of his tongue.
She loved the feel of him, his raw male power, his unexpected tenderness. She loved kissing him, touching him. She loved him. The words swirled around in her head as she kissed him with all the love and passion in her heart.
They were both breathless and panting when Mac finally lifted his mouth from hers.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since we woke up this morning,” he said against her lips. He took a small sensuous bite. “But you took off like a gazelle, and then we were surrounded by a bunch of underage chaperones.”
“Those underage chaperones are the reason I’m here,” Kara reminded him. And herself. It was time for a much-needed reality check here. She was in love with Mac, but it wasn’t mutual. To forget that fact was foolishly risky, heartbreak guaranteed. She mustn’t ever lose sight of the fact that Mac would be making love to whatever woman happened to get off that plane in Helena. It just happened to be her.
Wilde Bunch Page 15
