He did the same, easing his palms beneath her sweater, unfastening her bra, then smoothing his palms over her breasts. Quivering as he found the taut, aching buds, Molly lifted her mouth to his. And still they kissed. Caresses pouring out of them, one after another. Feelings built and desire exploded in liquid, melting heat. Unable to stand it any longer, they undressed. Quickly. Then joined each other in the mussed sheets of her bed.
He found protection, and she strained against him. Wanting. Needing. Pleasing. She lifted her hips. The hard length of him pressed into her. She had time to draw one breath and then they were kissing again, as if the world, their world, was going to end. Her inhibitions fled, and she arched against him, drawing him in.
He held her arms above her head. Timing his movements, increasing her pleasure, then his. Building, probing, taking her to the very depths. Until she was clenched around him, gasping his name, and he was saying hers. They were racing toward the edge, spinning over, drifting ever so slowly back to consciousness. Then holding each other, kissing ravenously, they started all over again.
* * *
“I’M GOING TO work late tonight. Want to join me?” Chance asked an hour later.
Molly shook her head. “I have to pick up Braden from his playdate.”
“I could come by later. We could all have dinner together.”
Silence.
“Or not,” he said.
Molly swallowed. Clad only in her bra and panties, she sat on the edge of her bed. Now that the lovemaking was over, and it was back to the normal routine, whatever that was, she seemed confused and on edge. And that gave rise to an unexpected insecurity in him, as well.
Molly paid an inordinate amount of attention to the act of putting on her wild purple socks. “Even with the nap he had in the car this morning, en route back from Dallas, it’s been a really long day for him.”
Chance resisted the urge to take her in his arms and make love to her all over again. Until she finally believed, as did he, everything was eventually going to be okay. “You want to put the little tyke to bed early?” he presumed.
Turning, Molly nodded.
“You want to put yourself to bed early, too?”
She trembled with exhaustion and something else. “I think so, yes.” She flashed a weak grin.
He wished he were invited, but he could see it wasn’t going to happen. Not tonight anyway. He rose and began to dress, aware there was one thing they hadn’t finished. “About the Leo and Lizzie toys...”
Her eyes lifted to his. The turbulent sheen was back. “I know you went to a lot of trouble, but I’m going to have to think about that. Let you know.”
Another harbinger of trouble to come? Or just a necessary time-out? Chance couldn’t tell. And he still didn’t know when he got back to the Circle H. The guys were preparing to work late to finish the removal of the last of the backsplash tile that had already gone up. Chance told them to go on. “I’ll finish it,” he said.
“Sure, boss?”
He nodded. Truth was, he needed some time alone. Needed to be busy. Needed not to think about what would happen if Molly did what she was promising all along, and left for Dallas in January.
* * *
“THINGS WENT BADLY with Molly, hmm?” Sage observed, walking in, covered dinner plate in hand.
Chance looked up from his hammer and chisel.
The lovemaking between he and Molly had been spectacular. To the point he was still replaying it in his mind, and would be, he figured, all night. Molly’s reaction afterward, the way she had pulled away emotionally yet again, had not been so great. But none of this was something he wanted to discuss with his sister, even if he could see she was trying to help.
“What makes you think that?” he asked casually.
“Duh. Mom told me how upset she was about the Toy Emporium boxes.” Sage set his dinner plate down. “Sounds like you really blew it.”
Chance kept right on chiseling off tile. “You wouldn’t think that if you could have seen Braden’s face when he was playing with those trains, the way he lit up. Plus, it’d be a great way to get him off the subject of expecting Santa to bring him a live bull for Christmas, if he had to make a choice.” In fact, Chance was pretty sure it would solve the problem entirely. And hadn’t that been the goal from the outset?
Sage settled on the sawhorse. “Look, there’s no denying your heart was in the right place, even if it was your stubborn attitude that got you into this mess in the first place. But you have to understand. To do all that on top of what you did to get Molly and Braden interviewed at Worthington Academy—”
A piece of tile fell out of his hand and shattered as it hit the floor.
Grimacing, Chance hunkered down to sweep up the shards. “Molly doesn’t know I had anything to do with that. She thinks it was your alumni letter of recommendation that opened the door.”
Sage paled. “If she finds out.”
“She won’t. I talked to Elspeth Pyle, the headmistress.”
Sage paused. “Is Braden’s acceptance a sure thing?”
Chance shook his head. “No. The decision, whatever it is, will be merit based. I made sure of that.”
Another heavy silence fell. Finally, his sister got up to hold the dustpan for him. “What I don’t understand is why you got involved with any of this elite private school stuff at all, Chance. Given the way you felt about your education there.”
He took the pan and emptied it into the trash barrel with the rest of the broken tile.
Aware Sage was still waiting, he explained, “I did it because it was what Molly wanted.” And he wanted her to have everything she wanted and more.
Sage settled on the sawhorse once again.
Figuring if he ever wanted his little sister to vamoose, he was going to have to eat, Chance picked up the plate and removed the foil. “And because up to now it’s been more idealistic than real for Molly.” He shoveled up a bite of tamale pie that was, he admitted, as delicious as everything else his chef sister made.
“In what sense?” Sage asked.
“Molly’s a small-town girl from a protected environment. She hasn’t had a clue what she would really be getting into, moving among those kind of people.” He paused to eat a little more and let his words sink in. “I wanted her and Braden to see and experience it firsthand.”
Sage went to the cooler they kept for the workers and fished out bottles of flavored water for them both. She uncapped and handed him his. “Did the tour of the academy discourage Molly the way you hoped?”
That was the hell of it. “No.”
“So she may still be leaving Laramie County after all,” Sage surmised, as unhappy for him as he felt.
“She’s still got time to reconsider,” Chance said.
Sage studied him, empathy in her eyes. “But you want them here with you.”
He did. More than he wanted to admit. Even to himself.
Chapter Nine
“You’ve got company,” Billy said.
Chance turned in the direction his hired hand indicated. Sure enough, a red SUV had parked in the drive beside the ranch house. His pulse picked up as he saw the driver-side door open. Molly stepped out.
It had been nearly seventy-two hours since they’d spoken. Although it had been hard as hell, he’d given her the space she requested. Hoping that once she thought more about it, she would see that his heart had been in the right place, even if his actions regarding Braden’s gift had been—in her view, anyway—completely misguided.
“Want me to take over for you?”
“Yeah.” Chance opened up one last gate. Jingle All the Way lifted his head and eagerly moved out of his stall into the bull exerciser. With all four slots filled, Chance turned toward his visitor.
Molly came toward him,
a vision in a red wool coat, snowy white blouse, jeans and boots. That quickly his heartbeat sped up.
She inclined her head toward the circular slow-moving metal fence that connected to a long chute from the barn. “That looks like an open-air revolving door.”
Chance closed the distance between them. Just as he had hoped, she was wearing that orchid perfume he liked. “Bucking bulls are athletes. They need to stay in shape.” He pointed out the four individual sections that kept the animals apart. “The competition of following the bull in front of them keeps them interested.”
Molly smiled and stepped even closer to Chance. “Pretty cool way to keep them in shape.” She tilted her face up to his. “How long do they stay in there?”
“Thirty minutes daily.”
“Impressive.”
He quirked a brow. “That why you’re here?”
“Nope. I need to talk to you. In private, if possible.”
He wanted to be alone with her, too. As they headed away from the bull barns, and the attention of his hired hands, her soft lips twisted ruefully.
“I want to apologize for not being more appreciative the last time we saw each other.” She paused to get a pretty glass container with a ribbon wrapped around the top from her vehicle. She had to lean across the driver seat to reach it. The hem of her coat rode up, revealing her nicely rounded derriere and slender, shapely thighs.
She inhaled deeply, as she straightened and faced him once again. Solemnly, she continued, “In retrospect, I see you were trying to help me achieve my goal of gifting Braden the Leo and Lizzie toys in a way that was impossible for me. So, if you will accept my peace offering of Vanillekipferl, or almond crescent cookies, I’d like to make a deal with you.”
He accompanied her up the steps to the ranch house. Aware he was happier than he’d been in three days, he paused to hold the door for her. “I’m listening.”
She scooted past. Allowing him to take her coat, she waited for him to remove his, then handed him the cookie jar. “I’d like to purchase the Leo and Lizzie World Adventure train table from you. The basic starter track set. And one of the destination kits from you. Preferably the San Antonio River Walk setup, since Braden’s actually been there.”
Tenderness spiraled through him. “The rest?”
“You can do whatever you like.”
Then that was easy, Chance thought. He’d keep them for the future, to give to Braden, one at a time, on the holidays and birthdays to come.
Oblivious to his thoughts, Molly suggested, “You can sell the other components to parents who are still looking for them or gift them to your nephew Max.”
Chance worked the lid off the jar and ate one of the cookies. Delicious. “He just took his first steps so he’s a little young yet for the train.”
Molly paused. “Right. Well, anyway, does that sound good to you?”
What was right was having her here again, in his home, meeting him halfway on an issue that was very important to both of them. He couldn’t help but think that was a sign of more good things to come.
“I took all the boxes and put them in the spare room I use for storage. They’re still in the shipping cartons, so you may want to open them so you can get a better look at what you’d be buying.” There were colorful pictures on every box.
Molly’s amber eyes gleamed. “Sounds good.”
He went into the kitchen and got a pair of scissors for her.
Figuring he’d give her more of the space she had requested, then join her when she was ready for his company, he pointed down the hall that led to the bedrooms. “First room on your left.”
“Thanks.” With another grateful look, Molly disappeared down the hall.
Outside, a purring car engine halted. Doors slammed.
Chance went to the window and swore at what he saw.
* * *
MOLLY HAD JUST cut open the first box when she heard the feminine voice coming from the living area. “Stop being so stubborn, Chance Lockhart!” Babs’s distinctive drawl echoed through the home. “This is a fantastic offer!”
“I told you,” Chance growled back. “I’m not selling to Mr. X, and I’m certainly not going to become partners with him!”
“Think of the capital he’s ready to infuse!”
“Rather not, Babs.”
Silence.
“If you do things Mr. X’s way, you’d finally be able to make it up to Delia—”
“Mom! Our commission on this deal is not Chance’s responsibility!”
No kidding, Molly thought.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to finally be able to give Delia what she deserves?” Babs persisted. “Since you wasted nearly ten years of her eligibility, stringing her along, pretending to be interested in something long term, like marriage?”
Ouch, Molly thought. Although she could hardly imagine Chance pretending anything. He was usually as straightforward as possible.
“First of all, Mom,” Delia cut in again. “Those weren’t wasted years! Chance and I learned a lot from each other.”
Chance’s heavy footsteps moved across the wood floor. “Ladies, thanks for stopping by. Next time—” the front door opened “—save yourself the trip.”
Molly surreptitiously looked out the window blinds into the yard. A miserable-looking Delia was already getting into the sleek black limo. Her fur-clad mother was unable to resist one last insult lobbed Chance’s way.
“And here I was hoping you would have gotten at least a little wiser when it comes to what is important in life.” Babs sniffed, glaring at Chance. “Apparently not!”
Molly moved away from the window as the limo drove off.
She walked back to the main living area in time to see Chance feeding another set of papers to the shredder.
“You heard.”
“Impossible not to. You okay?”
“Just frustrated.”
“Why do they keep coming back when you’ve already told them no?” Molly thought about the lingering emotional connection she’d heard briefly in Delia’s voice. Babs had to be aware of it, too. “Is Babs trying to reunite you and Delia via reverse psychology?”
Chance laughed mirthlessly. “I would hardly think so.”
But there was something devious going on with the older woman. Molly felt it in her bones.
“The last thing Babs wants is her daughter on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. Even if the proposal she just hammered out would likely quadruple my income in the next year.”
She did a double take. Unable to suppress her shock, she echoed, “Quadruple it? Really?”
He lifted his broad shoulders in a derisive shrug. “Sure, if I wanted to sell half interest in all thirty of my bulls and start aggressively marketing bull semen.”
They were standing so close she could feel the heat emanating from his powerful body. “Why don’t you want to do that?”
He walked over to plug in the Christmas tree. The lights added a cheerful glow to the glittering silver-and-gold ornaments. Noticing the star at the top was listing slightly to one side, he reached up to straighten it, then turned back to her. “If you partner with someone on a rodeo bull, the partner gets an equal say in how often, when and where, you let the bull compete.”
“And that’s a problem because...?”
He opened up a tin of the dark chocolate peppermint patties he favored and offered her one. This time she took it.
“Partners can get greedy and think more about the bottom line than the health and welfare of the animal.”
Eyes still on his, she ripped open the foil covering. “What about stud services?”
“Again, I prefer to pick and choose. Keeping the offspring genetically admirable keeps the price high.”
He opened the fireplace screen. “Lett
ing just anyone breed off your bulls can affect the quality of calves, and that in turn can affect reputation. And lowered reputations mean lowered prices.” He added a few more logs to the grate, adjusting them just so. “Plus, I like the size of the ranch and stable I have now.” He added tinder and lit a match. “I don’t want any more.”
Molly moved close enough to admire the leaping flames. “I can understand that. Sometimes independence is more important than more money in the bank.” She stepped back as he closed the screen again and stood, too. “What I don’t understand is why Babs is so fixated on arranging the sale of Bullhaven to Mr. X. I mean, I know that Mistletoe is a national champion, and you have an incredible reputation within the business, but it’s not like she couldn’t find another bull operation in Texas for Mr. X to invest in.” She furrowed her brow in confusion. “And since he wants to add venture capital, too, and become a half-interest partner, he could easily find people with the skills to vastly improve whatever bucking-bull operation he does end up purchasing.”
The brooding expression on Chance’s face indicated this was bothering him, too.
Molly paused. “Is she trying to wreak some sort of revenge on you for not giving her daughter the kind of pampered lifestyle Babs feels Delia deserves? By either taking away or disrupting what she knows means the most to you? Your ranch?”
He grinned, his ardent gaze roving her upturned face. “You sound protective.”
Molly flushed. She felt protective. Even though, technically, she really had no right to be that involved in his life. Given that they were simply friends—and temporary lovers—Molly squared her shoulders and drew a bolstering breath. “I just don’t want to see you used by someone who definitely does not seem to have your best interests at heart. No matter what Babs tells her daughter. It’s not right.”
“Right or not, that’s the way Delia’s mother operates.”
Molly squinted, her need to protect Chance and everything he held near and dear increasing tenfold. “What do you mean?”
“Babs always has an agenda. Right now, my guess is that it has more to do with Mr. X than me, since it’s his billions she wants for her daughter.”
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