Marked for Marriage

by Jackie Merritt

  Neither of them was concerned with the blackout or the blizzard doing its best to blow the house into the next county. The inside temperature was already dropping because without electricity the furnace couldn’t come on, but the heat generated by their hot kisses and caresses had each of their personal thermostats running on high.

  In spite of his almost fierce passion, Noah was careful with Maddie’s injuries. He could tell she had very little on—a sleeveless T-shirt and teensy-weensy panties—a far cry from the hilarious winter garb she’d been wearing at their first startling meeting.

  He didn’t ask for permission for what he did next, because Maddie’s fervent response to his every kiss and caress was all the consent any man could possibly require. He bent and picked her up, lifting her without the slightest strain and holding her against his chest. Her arms, both of them, even her bandaged arm, went up around his neck, and she laughed. It was a husky, throaty sound that raised Noah’s blood pressure another notch.

  “Help to steer us,” he said. “I don’t want to run into anything and hurt you.”

  Maddie felt for the doorway to her bedroom and told him which way to walk. She felt weightless and so full of wonder and elation she marveled that she didn’t fly into the room. But being carried by a very big, very strong man was better than flying, she decided dreamily. How have I lived for twenty-three years and not experienced these incredible feelings at least once?

  Of course, if she had felt this way before she would probably be married or…or…something.

  She was frowning slightly when Noah reached the bed and gently laid her on it, only to immediately lie next to her and pull up the blankets over them. He touched her face then, and the frown disappeared completely, especially when the tenderness of his fingers on her face was instantly followed by a kiss of unabashed hunger.

  Her mouth opened under his, and his tongue mated with hers. He slid his hand under the blankets and began exploring the beauty of her perfect little body. Her breasts were small with wonderfully firm nipples, her waist was a delightfully curved indentation and then he basked in the ripe femaleness of her hips.

  Maddie did some exploring, too. She was mesmerized by his arousal. He was definitely big all over, she thought a bit impishly when she encircled his manhood with her hand. He was beautiful all over, from the top of his magnificent head of hair to…well, she hadn’t actually seen his feet without shoes or socks, but she would bet anything they were beautiful, too.

  Noah was mesmerized by Maddie’s bold behavior in taking the initiative and caressing him intimately. It heightened his desire, and he was just about to make the final move when he remembered protection.

  “Maddie,” he whispered, “I’ve got to get up for a minute. Stay here. I won’t be long.”

  “Wha— Why are you… I don’t understand,” she stammered, beset by confusion. She’d been so deeply involved, emotionally, mentally, physically, and Noah’s abrupt change of pace truly took her by surprise.

  Noah thought for a moment. He might know the facts of life in more anatomical detail than Maddie did, but his medical education shouldn’t be the only factor making him knowledgeable about certain precautions during lovemaking. After all, neither of them was an inexperienced kid. At least, he wasn’t, in spite of a rather long period of self-denial. He could only guess at Maddie’s love life, but her feverish responses certainly didn’t indicate sexual innocence or ignorance.

  He spoke bluntly. “I need a condom, and you need me to use one. There are some in my medical bag. Do you understand now?”

  “Yes…of course.” Chastising herself for such stupidity, blaming her lack of experience and seeing it as a character flaw, she lay under the warm blankets and listened to Noah’s quiet but easily discernible progress through the dark house.

  And then, as her body and spirit cooled and began returning to normal, a question struck with awesome force: What in heaven’s name was she doing? Or almost doing? She’d known Noah Martin one day. True, it seemed more like a year, given all that had happened, but the expansion of time in one’s mind due to far too many events crammed into one short period didn’t change a thing. She’d known Noah Martin for one day and she was going to bed with him?

  “You can’t, you just can’t!” she mumbled thickly, truly shocked by her own unconventional behavior. This might be everyday stuff for Dr. Martin, but it wasn’t for her!

  Maddie felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye and slowly travel down her cheek. The darkness seemed to be closing in on her again, causing the fine hairs on the back of her neck to stand up. She’d never been afraid of the dark before, and her fear now substantiated the drastic changes in herself since her accident.

  Drawing a nervous breath, she wished ardently that she had stayed in Texas. She could have boarded Fanny in a good stable—there were some excellent facilities in the Austin area—and moved her truck and trailer into an RV park. She would have been comfortably set and probably farther along on the road to full recovery if she hadn’t taken that horribly long and trying drive to Montana.

  She heard Noah in the hall, saw the glow of a flashlight through the doorway, and her heart nearly stopped. Her romantic mood was completely gone, and how did a woman explain such a drastic change of heart to a man?

  He’d found a blanket, she saw with immense relief when he walked in, because it was draped over his shoulders and hung down to his knees. Without his nudity to contend with, she felt somewhat braver.

  “I have two flashlights, one from my medical bag and one that I found in a kitchen drawer,” Noah said. “I’ll put one on the night stand for your use, all right?”

  “Thank you.” She tried very hard to sound normal, but her voice came out weak and wispy.

  Noah caught on at once. Timing was crucial to great sex, and that brief break in their passion had eroded Maddie’s into oblivion. He felt a biting mixture of disappointment and relief. He would still love to make love with her, but he knew it was best if he didn’t. She wasn’t just any woman, she was Mark’s sister.

  Still, he wasn’t quite ready to say good-night, and he sat on the edge of her bed. “Don’t worry, I would never pressure you or any other woman into doing something she didn’t want,” he said quietly. “But something’s been bothering me. Would you mind talking a little?”

  His perception was astounding to Maddie, also his calm acceptance of something he’d figured out the second he’d entered the room. Her overall opinion of Dr. Noah Martin rose dramatically. Men with Noah’s understanding didn’t come along every day, and Maddie couldn’t help being impressed. Very impressed.

  “No, I wouldn’t mind at all,” she said in a much stronger voice than she’d spoken in a second before.

  “Is it all right if I sit here?”

  “Yes, of course,” she murmured. Truth was she was glad he was there. The beam of the flashlight was better than no light in such total darkness, but it wasn’t very comforting emotionally. Only the presence of another human being had that power. Noah had that power at the moment, and Maddie hoped he would sit with her for the rest of the night, even though she knew that was a rather childish wish.

  “How did you get your truck and trailer from Texas to Montana?” Noah asked.

  Maddie frowned. She could see only the faintest details of Noah’s face. Neither of them was directly in the flashlight’s beam, and so she was certain he could see no more of her than she could of him, which was not the cause of her frown. It was his question, which struck her as inane when the answer was so obvious. “I drove it here.”

  “Alone?”

  “Well, Fanny was with me, of course, but she’s not a very good driver.” Maddie couldn’t help smiling at the visual that comment created in her mind.

  But her sense of humor and Noah’s sense of humor didn’t coincide. “That’s not funny, Maddie,” he said sternly. “You were taking painkillers, and you should not have been driving.”

  “For heaven’s sake, do you think I’m
a complete moron? I didn’t take those pills during the day. I knew better than that.”

  “You, uh, took them at night?” Noah was thinking of the residual effects of taking a strong painkiller at night that could easily affect a person the following day. Especially a person with Maddie’s sensitivity to pain medication.

  “Yes, I took one after I stopped for the day. It was a long and very tiring trip. I drove only a few hundred miles each day, and then I had to take care of Fanny. She needed to get out of the trailer and walk around a bit, and then, of course, she had to be fed and watered. If I felt badly during the driving part of the day, I took over-the-counter pain relievers. They helped.”

  “Did a doctor okay that long trip?”

  “Well, no, but you see I didn’t make an appointment to see Dr. Upton in his office, like he told me to do before I left the hospital.”

  “Why not?”

  Talking in the dark was nice—or it could be—and Maddie was still glad that she wasn’t alone. But Noah wasn’t just chatting; he was grilling her!

  There was a chilly note in her voice when she replied, “Let me tell you the whole story, although I know in advance that you will disapprove of everything I did. But here it is to do with as you will. When I came to in the hospital, my first thoughts were of Fanny. Was she all right? Where was she?”

  “Back up a second. Was Fanny involved in your accident?”

  “Was she involved? I was on her back when she went down. Of course she was involved.”

  “I guess no one ever told me what you do in rodeo.”

  “Do you know what barrel racing is?”

  “Oh, you’re a…um, a barrel racer.”

  “Don’t make it sound like a deadly disease, for God’s sake. I make a very good living. Last year I won a total of ninety-six thousand dollars, and since I’ve been making good money for five years I own my truck and trailer outright and I have a pretty impressive savings account. I rent storage space in Austin, Texas, and in Billings, and whenever I’m in either area I unload all the trophies I’ve collected since my last trip. Aside from all of that, I love what I’m doing.”

  “I can tell. And Fanny is an integral part of your life and career?”

  “She’s the reason I’m successful. I don’t know if you realize the role one’s horse plays in barrel racing, but believe me, it’s crucial to have a well-trained horse. Fanny knows what to do in the arena as well as I do. Let me add one thing more about Fanny. I raised her from a foal, I trained her myself and I love her. So, you see, when I woke up in a hospital and remembered that both Fanny and I went down, I became more than a little concerned. You might say that I got a bit hysterical…I think. Actually, that was an awful day, and there are portions of it that I don’t recall at all.”

  “You were in the hospital only one day? How’d you accomplish that?”

  “One day and one night. They wanted me to stay another night, but I had to make sure Fanny was all right.”

  “Like you did today.”

  “Well, it wasn’t storming in Austin, but yes, it was a similar situation. Someone, Dr. Upton, I think, told me that Fanny was stabled at the rodeo grounds, but I really had to see her for myself.”

  “Maddie, have you always done exactly as you pleased and to hell with the consequences?”

  She bristled. “You’re a fine one to talk!”

  “I’m stubborn and independent, too, I grant you that, but you’re worse…or better…I’m not sure which word to use in describing your temperament.”

  “You fit that old saying, the pan calling the kettle black, if anyone ever did,” Maddie snapped. “There’s not a damn thing wrong with my temperament! Worry about your own.”

  “I have been…since I met you.”

  Maddie was momentarily lost for a comeback, but recovered quickly. “In other words, you believed you were perfect before meeting a woman who proved you weren’t?”

  “I never thought I was perfect…I doubt anyone is…but I was satisfied with who I was and with the life I’ve made since moving to Whitehorn.”

  “Which brings to mind a question or two,” Maddie drawled. “For one, where did you live before Whitehorn?”

  He hesitated because he never talked about himself, and Maddie was blatantly prying. After a few moments, however, he found himself saying, “San Francisco,” and then wondered why he was so different with Maddie than he was with anyone else.

  “Obviously you left San Francisco for a reason,” she said. “People rarely make a move of that magnitude without a strong and compelling reason.”

  “I had a damn good reason, or so I thought at the time.”

  “Does that bit of insight into your psyche mean that now you’re not so sure that you did the right thing by moving to Montana?”

  “To be honest I don’t know what I meant with that comment, and it was hardly an open door to my psyche. You have quite a vivid imagination.”

  “Not vivid enough to imagine what drove you out of San Francisco and to a small town in Montana. Are you going to enlighten me, or are you going to leave me hanging?”

  “I doubt that you’d lose much sleep over it.” Noah got off the bed and shone the beam of the flashlight on and around the night table next to Maddie’s bed.

  “What on earth are you looking for?” she asked.

  “For the note I wrote when I left you alone today.”

  “What did you write?”

  “That I was going to my house to pick up some personal items I would need for the night. You really didn’t see it?”

  “No, I really didn’t see it.”

  Noah found it just under the edge of the bed. “I propped it against the lamp. I wonder how it got knocked off the stand.”

  “I didn’t see it, Noah, so don’t sound so accusing!”

  “Well, here it is. Do you want to read it now so you will forever know that I’m a man of his word?”

  “Is that something you’d like me to believe?”

  He was standing very close to the head of the bed, and though he felt rather silly wrapped in a blanket, he realized that the situation was not silly, nor were the feelings that Maddie Kincaid had brought back to life after his long period of emotional stagnation.

  He acted on impulse, bent over and nuzzled Maddie’s face until his lips found hers. It was a soft, tender little kiss that stole Maddie’s breath and made her heart pound.

  Noah broke the kiss but his lips remained a breath away from hers. “I don’t know what I’d like you to believe,” he whispered. “But you’re the first woman who’s made me feel like a man in a very long time. I wasn’t looking for any such thing and I don’t think you were, either. But something happened the minute we met, and maybe we…each of us…should try to figure out what it was. What do you say?”

  Maddie’s mouth was dry as dust. “I…I think it’s something that should be thought about in the clear light of day. This darkness conceals a variety of…of pitfalls and hurdles.”

  “You’re right. Good night.” He grazed her lips with his…a fleeting connection that again took Maddie’s breath…then stood up and away from her. He put the flashlight in her hand, and with the second light in his hand he left her bedroom.

  It was hours before Maddie fell asleep again.

  Chapter Eight

  Changes were in the air when Maddie got up the next morning. Snow was still falling, but the wind had died down. Without that driving force, yesterday’s fierce blizzard was now a rather peaceful snowfall. There were horrendous drifts everywhere, of course, but Maddie knew that without the wind the plows would have a much better chance of clearing the roads today.

  The house was silent, and walking from her bedroom, Maddie felt a peculiar pang. It was too quiet; Noah must have gone somewhere. He could be just outside, she thought, and hurried to the kitchen to check the driveway. It had been shoveled and was vacant! A chill walked Maddie’s spine, though she had no idea why Noah’s absence would affect her so adversely. She shou
ld be glad that he’d finally decided to resume his own life, instead of living in the middle of hers.

  Turning away from the window with a stiff-upper-lip attitude—heavens, she certainly could survive without Noah Martin’s exasperating bossiness—she smelled coffee and saw the almost-full pot in the coffeemaker. She also saw a sheet of white paper in the middle of the kitchen table, held down on each of its four corners by a can of tomato soup. There were also two small packets that Maddie assumed contained pills, the new ones that Noah had given her yesterday and had worked so well.

  Maddie eyed the note warily, strongly suspecting that Noah’s bossiness hadn’t vanished when he had. He’d left a note and made certain that she wouldn’t miss seeing it, as she had yesterday.

  Accepting her fate, Maddie poured a cup of coffee, added milk and then brought it to the table and sat down. Moving the cans of soup off the paper, she slid it over to reside on the table just in front of her. Then she took a few swallows of coffee and began reading.

  Maddie,

  First, let me apologize for last night. I was way out of line, and all I can say is that it won’t happen again.

  Yesterday was a day off for me, which is the reason I could spend so much time here. Today is a workday with a busy schedule, and I have no choice but to leave you alone. I hope you’re feeling well this morning. I saw overall improvement yesterday, due entirely, I feel certain, to the change of your medications. Continue to use that antibiotic ointment as you’ve been doing, although any abrasions and cuts that might have caused infection appear to be nicely healed.

  The electricity is back on, which you’ve probably already discovered for yourself, but as I write this message we still do not have phone service. Should that occur, I will call to make sure you’re all right. Since I can’t imagine a reason for your going anywhere, I’m going to count on your common sense to keep you inside. Talk to you later.