A Bride for the Boss

by Maureen Child

  The quiet of the restaurant, the efficient smoothness of the waiters moving from table to table and the intimacy of the candlelight flickering in his eyes made her want to hug this moment close. Watching his easy smile slide across his face had her returning it and saying, “So Joe’s a big gossip, is he?”

  Mac laughed, then shrugged off the obvious dig. “Must be contagious.”

  “I think it is,” she agreed and looked around at the people shooting them interested glances. “And by tomorrow afternoon, everyone in town will know we were out to dinner together.”

  “That bothers you?”

  Her shoulder blades itched as though people were staring. “I don’t like being talked about.”

  He laughed again and the sound was low and deep. “Don’t know how you could avoid it around here. You know how it is in small towns. You’ve lived in Royal all your life just like me.”

  True, they had grown up just a few miles apart, but their lives were so different they could have been on separate planets. Mac had been the golden boy. Football team captain, star baseball player. His parents were wealthy, he lived on one of the biggest ranches in the state and everything he touched turned to gold. Until his parents died, leaving him to care for Violet and find his own way alone.

  Andi and Jolene had grown up in town, in a nice middle-class home with two parents who doted on them and loved each other. She and her sister had worked hard at after-school jobs, not leaving much time for activities like cheerleading or drill team or band.

  So, though they had both grown up here, and she had of course known who Mac was, Andi had never met him until the day she applied for a job with his company. She’d thought she’d come to know him very well over the years, but the past few days had shown her a new side of him, and it was fascinating to discover there was still so much more of him to know.

  He was staring at her as if he could delve into her mind and read her every thought. Just in case he could, she spoke up quickly. “Vi seems really happy.”

  Mac nodded as if accepting her change of subject. “She is. Rafe loves her, which I’m grateful for, as I’d hate to have to pound on one of my best friends. And right now, she’s driving the poor guy nuts with trying to get the nursery ready for the baby.”

  “He’s loving it and you know it,” Andi said.

  “Okay, he is. It’s only me she’s driving nuts.”

  The waiter arrived, took their order and Andi listened as once again Mac took charge. She gave him this one, since, being a Texan, she liked a good steak now and then. The wine he ordered was served a few minutes later and, after being sampled, was poured. Then the two of them were alone again and she took a long sip of that wonderful red, just to ease the twisting knots in her stomach.

  “Do you spend a lot of time here at the club?” she asked.

  Mac winked. “Lately, it’s been pointed out to me repeatedly that the only place I spend a lot of time is at work...”

  She nodded at his implication.

  “But yes,” he said, glancing around the dark, intimate dining room. With a shrug, he added, “Food’s good. If I want company, it’s here, if I don’t, I get left alone. Not much point in making Teresa dirty up the kitchen at home cooking just for me.”

  His housekeeper, Teresa Mooney, was a fifty-year-old widow who, Andi guessed, would love to be allowed to fuss over her employer. But typically enough, Mac made that call for her, not bothering to find out how she felt about it.

  “You do that a lot, you know?” she said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Make decisions for people.”

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “I ran into Teresa at the grocery store a few weeks ago. She was looking at a huge pot roast and bemoaning the fact that you don’t want her to cook for you.”

  “Really?” He frowned a little, took a sip of wine.

  “Yes, really.” Andi sighed. “People like to feel needed. Useful. You’re taking that away from her.”

  “Bad analogy,” he said, shaking his head. “You felt needed and useful at the office and yet you walked away.”

  She shifted uneasily in her chair. “That’s different.”

  “Not so much,” he said, drinking his wine, then thoughtfully staring at her over the rim of the glass. “You’re leaving because you were needed.”

  “It’s not only that.”

  “Then what else?”

  Okay, she wasn’t about to admit that she’d left because she loved him and knew her dreams were doomed to die. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, evading the question she couldn’t answer.

  “Well,” he said, setting his glass down as their meal arrived, “once you’re back in the office where you belong, I’ll have plenty of time to find out what’s really bothering you.”

  She glanced up at the waiter and smiled as he served her dinner, waiting until the man was gone again to speak. When she did, she leaned in close enough that Mac could hear her whisper, “You’re not going to convince me to come back.”

  “You didn’t think I’d win our bet today either, but here we are.” Smiling to himself, he cut into his steak.

  Andi sat there quietly simmering, wondering just when it was she’d lost control of the situation. She’d quit her job, yet now she was half convinced that Mac was right. He would find a way to get her back.

  Six

  Mac didn’t want the night to end yet—though he wasn’t interested in asking himself why. It was enough to keep her with him awhile longer. After dinner, he coaxed her into taking a walk down Main Street. With the summer just getting started, the night was warm, but the breeze was cool and just strong enough to lift the hem of the dark red dress she wore and flutter it above her knees.

  He was forced to admit that he’d felt staggered from the moment he picked her up at her house tonight. Over the past few days, Mac had been seeing Andi in a whole new light and it was just a little disconcerting. And tonight, she’d kicked it up several notches.

  She had her hair pulled back at the sides so that it tumbled down her back in a waving mass that tempted a man to sink his hands into it. Her red dress had thin, narrow straps and a bodice that dipped low enough that he got another peek at the breasts she had apparently been hiding from him for six years. The fabric then nipped in at a waist so narrow he was willing to bet he could encircle it with his hands, then sloped down over rounded hips and clung there, just to torment him further. Not to mention, he thought with an inner groan, the heels. Black, shiny, four inches at least, with a cut-out toe that showed off the dark red polish on her nails.

  She’d practically killed him right there on her front porch.

  Every man at the club had watched her pass by and for the first time ever jealousy stirred through Mac. He’d never been possessive about a woman. Never cared if other men looked at her or even if she looked back. Until now. Admitting that to himself was damned unsettling.

  At work, she had always been the personification of professionalism. Tidy, businesslike, she’d never once hinted at the woman beneath the veneer, and right now he figured that was a good thing. If she had, he might have fired her so he could date her and would never have been able to appreciate what she could bring to the business. And now, he thought, work was the furthest thing from his mind.

  Her scent wafted to him on a sigh of wind and he inhaled it deeply, drawing it into him until he could practically taste her. Which was just what he wanted to do.

  “It’s a pretty little town, isn’t it?” she asked when they got back to the car. She’d turned to look back down Main, and the expression on her face was soft and dreamy.

  He turned to face the town he’d grown up in and saw it as she did. Street lamps formed globes of yellow light that were reflected in puddles on the sidewalk. Tubs and hanging baskets of flowe
rs brightened the scene and the shop windows were ablaze with light, welcoming customers to come in and browse.

  Mac had lived in Houston for a while, but he hadn’t lasted long. Big cities were fun to go to for a few days, but his heart would always draw him back here. He liked the slower pace, the familiar faces and the views out his own windows. He liked knowing every inch of his surroundings and he enjoyed being in a place where everyone and their uncles and cousins made it their business to know yours.

  “It’s changed a lot from when we were kids,” Andi mused, “but somehow it stays the same, too.” She turned her head to look up at him. “You know what I mean? The heart of Royal is still small-town beautiful.”

  “Yeah, it is,” he finally said, shifting his gaze to hers. Those gray eyes shone a little brighter with the gleam of lamplight reflected in their depths. It was enough to stop a man’s heart if he wasn’t careful. Which Mac generally was.

  “You know,” he said abruptly, “it’s early yet. How about you come with me to the ranch? I can show you that mare you had to make all the travel arrangements for.”

  She bit down on her bottom lip as she considered it, and he tried not to watch. “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of things to do tomorrow and—”

  “Being alone with me scare you a little?” he asked in a whispered hush.

  Her gaze snapped to his. “I told you before, you don’t scare me.”

  But she was nervous. He could see it. And that gave him the nudge to push her into coming out to his place. Maybe it wasn’t a smart move, but right now he wasn’t interested in being “smart.” “Then there’s no problem, is there?”

  He’d delivered her a direct challenge, one she wouldn’t be able to resist. He knew her as well as she did him, so Mac realized that she’d never say no. Because she wouldn’t want him to think she was as uneasy as she obviously was.

  Damn. His thoughts were starting to circle like a merry-go-round in a tornado. What was the woman doing to him?

  “All right,” she said, shaking him out of his own head, for which he was grateful. “But after you show me the mare, you take me home. Deal?”

  He took her hand but instead of shaking it, lifted it to his mouth. Keeping his eyes on hers, he kissed her knuckles and saw the flare of heat flash across that cool, gray surface. Her skin was soft, smooth, and the scent of her pooled in his gut and began to burn. “We’re making a lot of deals here lately, Andi.”

  She pulled her hand from his, and damned if he didn’t miss the feel of her. “Just remember this one, okay? Horse, then home.”

  “Oh, I’ll remember.”

  He opened the car door for her, then closed it firmly and smiled to himself. He didn’t say how long it would be after she saw the horse that he would take her home. For a woman as organized and detail-oriented as she was, she’d really overlooked that particular loophole.

  He smiled all the way to the ranch.

  * * *

  The twenty minute drive from town to the Double M ranch seemed to pass in seconds. Andi couldn’t even enjoy the scenery they passed, with the moonlight washing over it all in a pale, cool light. She was way too tense to appreciate the view, for heaven’s sake.

  The ride in Mac’s Range Rover was smooth, and quiet but for the Southern blues pumping from the stereo. She hardly spoke because she had too many thoughts racing through her mind. Mac didn’t have much to say, she was guessing by his smug smile, because he’d already gotten his way by getting her to go to his ranch with him.

  Why was she going with him?

  He had kissed her hand.

  That one small, sexy action had pulled her in and made it impossible for her to say no. Darn it, Mac was being sweet and seductive and she felt herself weakening. She’d loved him for years, wanted him for years, and now, for whatever reason, he’d turned his charm onto her and she was slipping. Slipping down a slope that was going to be so hard to climb back up.

  At the edge of the McCallum ranch land, they passed the office where she’d worked for six years. There were low lights burning in the windows and the gravel parking lot was empty in the moonlight. A huge chunk of her life had been spent there and a part of her was sorry to see it go—the part that wanted to be with Mac, no matter what.

  Andi’s stomach pitched and she shot him a careful look from the corner of her eyes. He was smiling to himself and that only increased the anxiety already pumping through her. What was he thinking? Heck, what was he planning?

  How strange. She had believed she knew Mac better than anyone in the world. For years, she had anticipated his every professional need and rushed to meet it. But the Mac who kissed her hand and gave her wicked smiles over a shared bottle of wine while firelight shone in his eyes was a whole new ball game. She wasn’t sure of her next move.

  Frankly, she wasn’t sure of much at the moment. But Amanda’s words kept whispering through her mind. Make time for a secret lover. Is that what she was doing?

  Heat zipped through her, head-to-toe, at the thought, leaving a lingering burn that sizzled somewhere in the middle. Going to bed with Mac was a bad idea and yet...

  They turned off the main road and drove beneath the Double M gates, which swung open, then closed with a touch of a remote button. The land seemed to stretch out for miles, while the long drive to the ranch house was lined with oaks, their gnarled, twisting branches reaching for each other across the graveled drive. In full summer, this drive would be a shaded lane. Right now, there were still some bare branches that allowed moonlight to slip through and lie in silvered patches on the ground in front of them. At the end of the drive, the house waited.

  A sprawling affair, it was two stories, built of stone and wood with wings that spread out from the center. More oaks stood sentinel at the corners of the house and the flower beds were a riot of color that even in the moonlit darkness looked cheerful and welcoming. The windows were lit, creating squares of gold across the front of the house, and the yard lights blinked on as Mac pulled up and parked.

  Now what?

  He hopped out of the car, came around to her side and opened the door, giving her a hand down. She appreciated it, since the heels she was currently teetering on weren’t made for climbing. Or walking, when it came to it, which was why she winced when he took her hand and led her toward the stables.

  “You know, I’m not really dressed for a barn visit—”

  Mac glanced at her and one corner of his mouth tipped up. “It’s okay. Next time you can dress up.”

  “What? Oh, for—”

  He winked at her and kept walking.

  That charm of his kept tugging at her and she was pretty sure he knew it. Andi huffed out a breath because clearly the man was not going to be dissuaded. Hurrying her steps to keep up with his much longer strides, she asked, “Is this a race?”

  “Sorry,” he said, and slowed down, never letting go of her hand. Not that she wanted him to. She liked the feel of his hard, calloused palm pressed close to hers.

  That was the problem.

  Every step they took crunched out into the country quiet. The soft breeze was still blowing and felt cool against her skin. Mac was a tall, solid presence at her side, and as they walked together in the moonlight, she had a hard time holding her all-too-eager heart back from taking a tumble to land at his feet.

  “Soon enough, it’ll be steaming hot here, but for now, it’s a nice night for a walk.”

  She looked up at him. “It is. If you’re wearing the right shoes.”

  “If you can’t walk in them,” he said, giving her heels a quick glance, “why wear them?”

  “They’re not for walking,” she said. “They’re for making my legs look great.”

  He took another look, a slow, lengthy one this time, then met her eyes with a smile. “Mission accomplished.”

  “T
hanks.” Her heart started that tumble again and she steeled herself against giving in. She already loved the man. And the Mac she knew would run like a scalded cat if he knew it. In the past, any woman who’d started getting what he called the “white-fences gleam” in her eye had been set aside so fast their heads were probably still spinning.

  If Andi didn’t keep a grip on her feelings, she really would wind up lying alone in a dark room with nothing but her pain for company. So instead of concentrating on the man at her side, she looked around as they neared the stable.

  The corral fences were painted white and stood out against the darkness like ghostly barricades. The stable itself was moon-washed and looked like a deeper shadow against the night. The barn farther off to the right was bigger, wider, to accommodate all of the equipment needed to keep a ranch of this size running. There were other outbuildings, too. A house for the ranch manager and his wife, a barracks of sorts where unmarried employees lived and a separate storage building where winter feed could be kept until it was needed.

  Mac McCallum might be a wildly successful businessman, but at the core of him, Mac was a rancher. He would always love this land, this place, the horses and cattle he ran and the wide-open stretch of sky that seemed as if it went on forever. This ranch was in his blood, it was bred in his bones, and whether he acknowledged it or not, this place was the beating of his heart.

  “You went quiet all of a sudden,” he said. “A sure sign you’re thinking too much again.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Since when do you notice what I’m doing?”

  “I always noticed, Andi,” he said softly, and his voice slipped inside her to caress every last nerve ending. “Though I’ll admit, I just took you for granted before.”

  “Really?”

  He glanced at her and smiled. “Don’t be so surprised. Even I can grow some.”

  How was she supposed to fall out of love with a man who could say something like that?

  “I figured,” he continued, “that you’d always be there when I needed you. In my own defense, though, you’re the one who caused me to believe it.”