by Diana Palmer
She didn't deny it. She leaned her head against the headrest.
"He wants to have a blazing affair and then go back to Victoria."
"What do you want?"
"Marriage. Children. Forever after."
"He might want those things, too, after he got used to you."
"He might get tired of the."
"Life doesn't come with guarantees," he said gently. He glanced at her drawn, unhappy face. "You have a history of migraine. I wouldn't dare
prescribe birth control pills for you, because of that. But there are other tried-and-true methods."
"Copper!"
He held on to her hand. "Grow up. We don't always get the brass ring. That doesn't mean we can't get some pleasure out of the ride. At least
you'd have some sweet memories."
"I'm surprised at you," she said.
He glanced at her. "No, you're not. And I'm not surprised or disappointed in you for being human. Sex is a natural, beautiful part of life. It's
very rare that two people love each other enough to experience its heights. Burke may not want to marry you, honey, but he loves you."
"What!"
"I think you know it, too, deep down. He's pretty readable to another man. He was jealous of the the first time he saw the.
"That could be sexual jealousy."
"It could have been. But it wasn't. He's too protective of you." He patted her hand gently. "He had a bad marriage, didn't he, and he's
probably afraid to take another chance. But if he cares enough, eventually he'll give in. Isn't it worth fighting for?"
"Fighting for." She grimaced. "I can't. I just can't. That...belongs in marriage."
"I couldn't agree more. It does. But, then, from my point of view, marriage is just a matter of time. He loves you. You love him. And he
strikes the as a pretty conventional fellow. He has a daughter to think of, too."
"He says he'll never marry again."
"The president said he wouldn't raise taxes."
She looked at him and burst out laughing. "Don't compromise your principles," he advised. "But you can keep him interested without
tearing your clothes off for him."
"I suppose so."
"Now, tell the about this ad promotion."
She did, glad to talk about some subject less complicated than Todd Burke.
When they got home it was well after dark and Todd was in the house with Meg, pacing the floor.
He went out to meet Jane as she came up the steps, having thanked Copper and waved goodbye.
"Where have you been?" he demanded.
She lifted both eyebrows. "Having lobster and steak."
"And men?" he challenged angrily.
"And then," she whispered, leaning close, "we got into the back seat and made love so violently that all four tires went flat!"
He stared at her long and hard and then suddenly laughed. "Damn you!"
She went close to him, putting both hands against his shirtfront. "I couldn't make love with anyone except you," she said, living up to her new
resolve to tell him nothing but the truth, always. "I love you."
His heart ran away. She was the very picture of femininity, and the sight of her long hair made him ache to feel it against his bare chest, as he
had the night they loved each other. He gathered up a handful of it and drew it to his cheek.
"I love you, too," he said unexpectedly. His bream sighed out at her temple while she stood still against him, unbelieving. "I loved you the
night I took you." He kissed her eyelids closed. "People can't satisfy each other that completely unless they love, didn't you know?"
"No," she whispered, stunned by the revelation.
His mouth moved gently down to her soft lips and traced them. "Won't you change your mind?" he asked huskily.
Her hands clenched on his shirtfront. "Copper won't give the the Pill because I have a history of migraines," she said bluntly.
His body froze in position. "You talked to that cowboy doctor about the Pill?"
"No, he talked to the about it! He knows that I love you."
He didn't know how to take it. For a moment, anger overshadowed what she was saying. And then, all at once, understanding pushed its
way into his mind.
He moved back, frowning. "You can't take the Pill?"
"That's right. So the risk of a child would always be there. I couldn't...do anything about it, if I got pregnant," she added firmly. "And since I
feel so strongly about it, I don't want to take any more chances with you. I didn't...that is, nothing happened last time."
"I took precautions," he said stiffly.
"Yes, I know. But accidents happen."
His hands stilled on her shoulders. He was quiet, thoughtful. A child with Jane would be a disaster. He couldn't walk away from a child. He
could picture a little girl with long blond hair and big blue eyes in a taffeta dress. He could take her to birthday parties, as he'd taken Cherry
when she was little. Or there might be a little boy, whom he and Jane could teach to ride. A son.
"You're very quiet," she remarked.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry," she said, lifting her eyes to his. "But it's better not to start things we can't finish. And I'd be the last person in the world
who'd want to trap you."
He searched her sad eyes. His fingers touched her lower lip, testing its softness. "Marie didn't want to make a baby with the," he said
roughly. "We were both drunk and I knew she was on the Pill. But she'd forgotten to take it a few times. That's the only reason Cherry was
conceived."
"For heaven's sake!"
"Are you shocked?" he asked lazily. "Jane, she didn't want a child. Some people don't."
"Yes, I know, but now she loves Cherry.
"So do I. With all my heart. And the day she was born, when they put her into my arms, I cried like a boy. It was unbelievable to have a
child of my own."
The awe and wonder of the experience touched his eyes |IINI briefly, before he banished it. He looked down at Jane and his hands cradled
her hips. "Even if I were...willing— which I'm not," he added curtly, "you won't be able to carry a child, not for a long time." He grimaced.
"And as you say, the risk would always be there, if you couldn't take the Pill. But you were willing to take any risk with the that night," he
reminded her.
"Yes, but it didn't happen," she said curtly. "Nothing happened afterward!"
Her tone startled him. She sounded disappointed.
He didn't speak for a minute. His eyes searched her down-cast face. "Jane...you wanted to get pregnant, didn't you?"
She bit her lower lip almost through and pulled away from him. "What I wanted is nobody's business except my own, and it's a good thing
that you aren't forced into doing something you'd hate."
"Maybe so. But..."
She laughed. "Don't look so somber. Everything's all light. You'll go back to your job in Victoria and I'll make a fortune selling clothes
with my name on them. We'll both do fine."
"Will you marry Coltrain?" he asked bluntly.
"I don't love him," she said sadly. "If I did, I'd marry him in a minute."
"Marriages have succeeded on less."
"And ended on more."
He couldn't debate that. He touched her lips with his. "I won't stop wanting you. If you change your mind, you only have to say so."
"I can't. I can't, Todd." She moved away and left him standing there. He wanted her, that was obvious, but he'd hate her if anything
happened. He'd marry her, certainly, if
there was a child. But it would be a hateful relationship. She didn't want him that way.
The next Friday, Todd drove Cherry up to Victoria to spend another weekend with her mother. He stayed in town, too, to get some of his
; own impending paperwork out of the way and to keep his mind off Jane. The hunger he felt for her was becoming a real problem.
Cherry waved goodbye to him from her mother's elegant front porch. The house Marie shared with William, her sec ond husband, was a
startling white restored Victorian, wit gingerbread woodwork and a gazebo on a spotless manicure lawn. It had all the warmth of a photograph,
but it suited woman who was trying to build an interior design business in south Texas.
"Your father seemed very out of sorts," Marie remarked as she and Cherry went inside.
"I think it's because of Jane," the girl replied with a grin. "I caught them kissing, and I mean kissing!" she added, shaking her hand with
appropriate facial expressions.
Marie made a curt movement. "Todd has said repeatedly that he doesn't want to marry again," she said.
"Never say never," Cherry murmured and grinned. "Jane's been helping the with my turns. She says I'm just the picture of elegance on
horseback. I wish I could be more like her," she said, without realizing how dreamy she sounded. "She's so beautiful, and everyone knows who
she is in rodeo. She's going to endorse some women's Western wear. They'll have her on TV and in magazines... Gosh, it's so exciting!"
Marie wasn't jealous of Todd anymore. Their marriage was history. But she was jealous of her only daughter, who now seemed to be
transferring all her loyalties to a disabled rodeo star with a reputation that was already fading. She didn't like it one bit.
"I thought we might go shopping again tomorrow," Marie ventured.
Cherry started to speak and ended in a sigh. "All right."
"You should love pretty clothes, at your age," Marie said, clinging desperately to the only real common desire they still shared, a love of
clothes.
"I do, I guess," Cherry said. "Rodeo clothes, at least. But I'll love some new books on horses and medicine."
"Books! What a waste of time!"
Cherry's eyebrows arched. "Mother, I'm going to be a surgeon."
Marie patted her shoulder gently. "Darling, you're very young. You'll change your mind."
"That isn't what Jane says, when I tell her about wanting to practice medicine," Cherry said sharply.
Marie glared at her. "And that's quite enough about Jane," she said sarcastically. "I'm your mother. You don't talk back to the."
Cherry's mouth pulled down. "Yes, ma'am."
Marie smoothed over her perfect coiffure. "Let's have tea. I've had a very hectic morning."
Doing what, arranging the flowers? Cherry thought irritably, but she only smiled and didn't say another word. Compared to Jane, who was
always doing something or reading about ranching or genetics, Marie was very dull stuff indeed. Her life seemed to be composed of clothes and
society, and she had no interests past them.
Her father, like Jane, had an active mind and he fed it constantly with books and educational television. Cherry remembered her parents
being together very rarely during her childhood, because Marie didn't like horses or riding, or reading, or computers. Cherry and her father
shared those interests and that had formed an early bond between them. Now Jane, also, shared the same interests. Cherry wondered if her
father ever noticed. He seemed very attracted to Jane physically, but he paid little attention to her leisure pursuits. She'd have to get them
together long enough to push them into really talking.
Remembering the pleasure in Jane's face when she'd said she was going to Victoria with Dr. Coltrain brought Cherry
up short. The doctor would be formidable competition for her father. She'd have to see if she couldn't do something to help. The more she
thought about having Jane for a stepmother, the happier she became.
Marie and William had an engagement Saturday night, so she decided to run Cherry back to the ranch early that afternoon. She phoned Todd
at the office to tell him that she'd drop the girl off, but he was involved in a business meeting so Miss Emory took the message and promised
to relay it.
Marie smiled to herself as she and Cherry got into her silver Mercedes. Somehow she was going to throw a spanner into Todd's spokes and
prevent her daughter from becoming lost to the competition. She already had a good idea of how to do it, too.
"Does Jane know that your father is rich?" she asked Cherry.
"Heavens, no," Cherry said, defending her idol. "She doesn't even know that he owns a computer company. All Dad has told her is that he
keeps the books for a company in Victoria."
"My, my. Why the subterfuge?"
"Well, Dad felt sorry for Jane," she said without thinking that she might be betraying her father to her mother. "She hurt her back in a
wreck and she could barely walk. The ranch was in trouble. She didn't have anyone who could manage money to help her. So on an
impulse, Dad offered to take over the manager's job. You wouldn't believe what he's done for her. He's improved the property, bought livestock,
got her into a licensing venture with that clothing manufacturer—all in a few weeks. I heard him say that the ranch is going to start paying
back the investment any day now."
"Where did she get the money to do all that? Has she got money of her own?" Marie asked with studied carelessness.
"Oh, no, she was flat broke, Dad said. He went to the bank and stood good for a loan to make the improvements. She doesn't know."
Ammunition, Marie was thinking. "Tell the about Jane," Marie coaxed.
It didn't take much to get Cherry talking about the woman she worshiped. In the drive to Jacobsville, she told Marie everything she knew. By
the time they reached the Parker ranch, Marie had enough to put the skids under the former rodeo queen and get back her daughter's loyalty.
' I do wish you'd consider spending the rest of the summer with the," Marie said as they pulled up at the front door. "We could go to Nassau
or down to Jamaica. Even to Martinique."
"I'd love to, but I have to practice for the rodeo in August," Cherry explained. "I really need to work on my turns."
"Oh...horses!" Marie muttered. "Such a filthy hobby."
"They're very clean, actually. There's Jane!"
Marie got out of the car and studied the woman approaching (hem. Jane was wearing jeans and a pink T-shirt. Her blond hair was in a braid
down her back and she wasn't wearing any makeup, but that didn't lessen her beauty. If anything, it enhanced it. She was slender and elegant to
look at, and she had grace of carriage despite her injury. She was twice as pretty as Marie. The other woman, at least ten years Jane's senior,
had no difficulty understanding Todd's interest and Cherry's devotion to the woman. Marie hated her on sight.
"Jane, this is my mother. Mom, this is Jane," Cherry introduced them, beaming.
"I've heard so much about you," Marie said with reserved friendliness. "How nice to meet you at last, Miss Parker."
"Call the Jane, please," the other woman said kindly. She slid a welcoming arm around Cherry, who smiled up at her with the kind of
affection she used to show her mother. It made Marie go cold inside. "I've missed you," she told Cherry.
"I've missed you, too," Cherry said warmly.
"Would you like tea, Mrs...."
"Oh, call the Marie. Yes, I'd love a cup," Marie said formally.
Jane grimaced. "I meant a glass of iced tea, actually." '
"That would be fine."
"Come in, then."
Jane led the way into the spacious living room. Marie's keen eye could see dozens of ways to improve it and make it elegant, but she bit
down on her comments. She wanted to worm her way into Jane's confidence and criticizing the decor wasn't going to accomplish that.
&n
bsp; "Could you ask Meg to fix some tea and cookies on a tray?" Jane asked Cherry.
"Sure! I'll be right back!"
She was gone and Marie accepted Jane's offer of a seat on the wide, comfortably upholstered sofa.
"Well, you're not at all what I expected," Marie began with a kind smile. "When my husband—excuse the, my ex-husband," she amended
sweetly, "told the that he'd taken a little job down in Jacobsville to help a poor crippled woman, I had someone older in mind!"
Chapter 9
At first Jane thought that she might have misheard the other woman. But when she leaned forward and looked into Marie's cold eyes, she
knew that she hadn't.
"I'm not crippled," Jane said proudly. "Temporarily slowed down, but not permanently disabled."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I must have misunderstood. It doesn't matter. Whatever your problem is, Todd felt sorry for you. He's a sucker for a
hard-luck story. Amazing, isn't it," she added, watching Jane as she played her trump card, "that a multimillionaire, the head of an
international corporation, would sacrifice his vacation to get an insignificant little horse ranch out of the red."
Jane didn't move, didn't breathe, didn't flinch. She stared at the older woman blankly. "I beg your pardon?"
Marie's pencil-thin brows rose. "You didn't know?" She laughed pleasantly. "Well, how incredible! He's been featured in God knows how
many business magazines. Although, I don't suppose you read that sort of thing, do you?"
she added, allowing her eyes to pause meaningfully on the] latest issue of a magazine on horsemanship.
"I don't read business magazines, no," Jane said. She touched her throat lightly, as if she felt choked.
"Todd must have found it all so amusing, pretending to be a simple accountant," Marie said, leaning back on the sofa elegantly. "I mean, what a
comedown for him! Living like this—" she waved a careless arm "—and driving that pitiful old sedan he borrowed. Honestly, he had to have the
chauffeur drive the Ferrari and the Rolls twice a week just to keep them from getting carbon on the valves."
Rolls. Ferrari. Multimillionaire. Jane felt as if she were strangling. "But he keeps the books," she argued, trying desperately to come to grips with
what she was being told.
"He's a wizard with figures, all right," Marie said. "He's an utter genius at math, and without a college education, too. He has a gift, they say."
