She lifted her coffee to her lips and blew gently on the liquid. Matt’s gut tightened. She took a sip, grimaced at the strong taste, and set the mug down.
“What do we do now?”
Well, there was a leading question. He had all sorts of ideas. Most of them involved getting naked. An image of Cassandra on a bearskin rug in front of the fireplace, the glow highlighting her alabaster skin as she held out her hand and waited for him to join her, sprang immediately to mind.
He groaned under his breath and rose on the pretext of grabbing more coffee, when really, his jeans had grown too snug for him to remain in his seat.
“I don’t know about you,” he said, keeping his back to her until he could regain control of his body, “but I could use something to pass the time.”
He set his coffee down to search for the pack of cards he remembered seeing here before. Finding the familiar rectangular box, he turned and grinned at Cass.
“Strip poker anyone?”
* * *
Matt stared at her with a smile that was filled with a cross between mischievous little boy and carnal intent. Cass wasn’t sure whether to laugh or find a fan.
“I am not playing poker with you, strip or otherwise. That’s how we got into this mess to begin with.” The moment she said the words and the smile faded from his too-handsome face, Cass was sorry. She didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Well… yes, she did. But, now that she was here and had gotten to know Matt and his family it felt less like a mess and more like… fate.
Uncomfortable with her thoughts, she gestured to the table. “Why don’t you let me teach you a game instead?”
She was selfishly glad to see the humor return to his eyes.
“You’re going to teach me a card game?”
Cass pushed his chair, inviting him to sit. “C’mon, wise guy. You scared?”
Matt laughed. “Princess, you frighten me to death.” He joined her at the table, dropping the cards in front of her before taking his seat. “Okay, luck of the draw, show me what you’ve got.”
Now that the ball was in her alley, Cass had no idea what to do. The last time she’d played cards she’d been eight. What could she show Mr. Three Time State Champion that he hadn’t already seen before?
And then it came to her. She mixed the cards awkwardly, dealt out their hands, and held hers up in a fan.
“Do you have any fives?” she asked, peering at his dumbfounded face over the top of her cards.
Then a slow smile flirted with his lips.
“Go fish.”
21
Madeline sat on the patio, a cheerful plaid blanket wrapped around her knees, and stared out across the hills she loved and sometimes hated in equal measure. A rainbow had formed in the distance, highlighted by a bank of angry black clouds that mirrored her emotions perfectly. She searched for the faith that her grandchildren would come home safe, and the steadfast hope they would find an enduring love such as she’d been blessed to have with Joseph.
Ah, Joseph.
Soon, my love.
Soon, their souls would join as one and she would find the peace she craved. But not until her kids were taken care of, she needed to see them happy before she left this world.
The wind picked up and whipped her once dark hair, now streaked with strands of gray, around her face. She lifted a trembling hand and held it tucked against her neck, reluctant to give up her vigil. Maybe, if she had kept watch on that fateful day, those far-off hills wouldn’t have taken her husband and son away from her.
“Miss Maddie, what are you doing out here?” Consuela hurried across the flagstone, her skirts flapping around her ankles. “Come in before you catch your death. There’s a storm brewing tonight, that’s for sure.”
She fussed around Madeline’s legs, making sure the blanket was secure and she was adequately covered. “Tsk, you’re freezing. What made you come out here?” she asked. When Maddie didn’t answer—she couldn’t put her deepest fears into words, for fear they’d come true—Consuela looked up and sighed. “Oh, honey, it wasn’t your fault. When will you quit blaming yourself for their deaths?”
Never.
The aching chasm in her heart widened. If only she’d gone with them as Joseph had wanted. But then the kids would have needed to go also, and Aaron had just been getting over the flu. She’d offered to stay behind and care for the children, never dreaming the perfunctory hug and kiss she’d shared with her husband before he left would be the last one they would ever share.
If only she could have that moment back.
“Why do we never realize what we have until it’s gone?” she whispered.
Consuela leaned over and gave her a mint-scented hug. “Don’t worry, they’ll be back. Mr. Matt knows what he’s doing, and the little one…” she sniffled. “Sophia is impulsive, but she’s smart too, she’ll take cover before the storm. Besides…” She stood and gave Maddie a watery smile while rolling the ever-present rosary beads through her fingers, “Mr. Tony and the men will find them. We just need to have the faith.”
As Consuela moved behind the wheelchair and began to push it toward the house, Maddie took one last glance at the hills—and prayed.
22
Matt watched as Cassandra’s eyelids grew heavy. They needed to get some rest. It had been a hell of a day, one she no doubt regretted. He couldn’t say the same. Their time together on the trail, and ending up in this cabin, were memories he would carry for a very long time. She’d made the best of a bad situation, teasing, throwing mud with him like school kids, even playing the silly card game, Fish.
Nothing like the spoiled princess he’d called her.
Now that the cabin was warm and cozy he was getting tired himself, but this place wasn’t exactly set up for guests. Other than the bed, which he had a feeling Cass wasn’t about to share, there was a folding cot about five inches too short for his six-foot-three frame. It could have been worse, at least they weren’t spending a miserable night in the rain.
He should stoke the fire. He set his cards down and rose.
Cassandra stared up at him with sleepy eyes. “What’s wrong?”
Matt smiled, tenderness making his voice gruff. “You win, you’re the official Go Fish champ.” He gently tugged the cards out of her hand. “It’s late, we better get some sleep. You take the bed; I’m just going to add some logs to the fire.”
Cass gazed uncertainly from him, to the bed, and back again. “What about you? Where will you sleep?”
He turned away from the temptation of smooth silky skin and cherry red lips. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
“Matt.”
He stopped, his stomach clenching at something in her tone. He cleared his throat and glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“We can share. The bed I mean,” she stammered, her cheeks giving away her embarrassment.
Bad idea, buddy. Very bad.
His conscience wouldn’t let him, though he was unbearably tempted.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he murmured. Then, before he could stop himself, “Do you?”
Cass flushed more, if that were possible, and rose, pretending to busy herself with gathering the cards and replacing them in the package. “It’s not like we’re going to do anything. Except sleep, that is.” She tossed the deck down and straightened to meet his gaze. “We’re adults here. I’m sure we can control…” She waved her hands between them as though fanning a flame. It was working, too. “This… this thing between us. It’s just a normal male, female attraction. Nothing to worry about.”
She stomped over to the bed and threw back the covers before climbing in, her barely-clothed bottom torturing him as she wriggled across the mattress. Once she was settled and covered from chin to toe, she pointed triumphantly to the empty space beside her.
“See, lots of room. You can have the top cover and it’ll work out fine.” She patted the bed awkwardly, inviting him over.
Matt nodded jerkily, h
ardly believing he was going to agree to this insane idea. Neither one of them was going to get a wink of sleep, but he couldn’t say no, either. There was an invisible cord tugging him ever closer to his doom. It didn’t matter. He might never have another chance to lay with her, whether it was innocent or not. He was taking it.
“I’ll be there in a minute. Don’t wait up,” he said, giving Cassandra a last chance to change her mind, though he’d regret it if she did.
“No fear of that,” she yawned. “I’m bushed.” Then, for all the world as if this were a regular occurrence, she rolled over and gave him her back.
Matt grinned.
Damn, he liked that girl.
* * *
Cassandra lay under the blankets barely daring to breathe. What was she thinking, inviting a strange man into her bed? This was possibly the dumbest thing she’d ever done, other than agreeing to a false engagement, that is. What was it about this man that tempted her to live outside the box? She’d always been a by-the-book kind of gal, now here she was, on a ranch in who-knows-where Texas faking a love life she didn’t have. And didn’t want to have.
Really.
She could hear Matt preparing for bed, the intimacy of him doing all the safety checks—locking the door, closing the curtains, blowing out the light—filling her with a weird mix of anticipation and trepidation. What should she do if he tried anything?
You wish.
Sad thing was, she kind of did. The longer they spent time together, the more she was drawn to him. Her engagement to Jeff seemed part of another world now. This, this felt all too real.
He sank onto his side of the bed and she froze, listening as his boots hit the floor. Plop, plop. Then he was there, his weight making her body roll towards him on the sagging mattress. She stiffened, trying to avoid touching him, and gasped when he reached out and tugged her close, back to front.
“Relax,” he murmured in her ear, his breath causing a wild fluttering inside her chest. “I’m not going to hurt you. We’ll stay warmer this way.”
Oh, she didn’t doubt that for one moment. Her body was on fire, and every inch that touched his felt electrified. His hand rested just under her breast, his arm a warm weight anchoring her to the bed. So much for sleep.
What if she rolled over in the night? They’d be face-to-face, sharing the same pillow. The same air as their lips touched, mingled, ravished. Her heart jumped.
“Go to sleep, Princess. I’ve got you,” Matt’s words were slurred, as though it took too much effort to talk. His chest rose and fell, his breaths deepening as he slid into dreamland.
Men. How could he go to sleep in a situation like this?
Cass huffed out a frustrated sigh.
All wound up and no place to go.
It took a few minutes to get over it, but then she started to see the humor. Here she was worried about Matt attacking her maidenly body, and all the while he had nothing more on his mind than shut-eye.
Talk about an over-inflated ego. Apparently, hers had just been deflated.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile on her lips.
23
Sophia shivered. She was wet and she felt horrible. Not that she was about to admit it to the jerk sharing his saddle with her. If she’d been paying attention her horse would never have stepped in that gopher hole and come up lame. Some adventure this was turning out to be. Her great plan to find her brother and deliver him safely into the bosom of his family was a mega-failure.
And Tony had to be a front and center witness to all of it.
The pommel dug into her thighs, her back ached from holding herself away from her rescuer’s broad chest, and she needed to pee. In a word, she was miserable.
“Sit still. You’re going to spook my horse,” Tony growled, sounding even less pleased with the situation than she was.
Well, it was his own fault. If he hadn’t snuck up like that and distracted her so badly, they’d already be at their destination. The moment she found the scrap of cloth hanging on the mesquite bush, she’d known where her brother was heading.
Hidden Valley.
She hadn’t been there since she was a child.
Her father had taken all three kids on a weekend getaway, leaving Momma and her grandmother home to plan the big party for her eighth birthday. The one she wasn’t supposed to know about.
When they’d arrived at the entrance to the valley Matthew and Aaron had raced down the hill to roll in the thick green grass, but not her. She’d stood with her little hand stuck inside her dad’s much bigger paw, and stared in wonder. It was like something out of her fairytale books. She expected to see a handsome prince come riding through the forest at the far end of the valley and sweep the maiden with long, curly locks into his arms.
“What do you think, Peanut?” her dad asked in his deep, rumbly voice that always filled her with warmth and safety.
“Daddy,” she giggled. “I’m too big to be a peanut anymore.”
He swung her into his powerful arms and nuzzled her neck until she laughed. “You’ll always be my little peanut, missy. Now tell me what you think of my secret valley.”
Secret?
Her young imagination went wild. Maybe her daddy was the Lone Ranger, like in the storybooks her brothers read. Or a masked man like Zorro, protecting her family from bandits. She reached up and grabbed his familiar face, her fingers splayed out over his laughing cheeks.
“Daddy, tell me,” she demanded. “What’s the secret?”
His brown eyes, so like hers, sparkled with humor. “Well, if I told you that, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, now would it?”
She huffed out an impatient breath. “Da… ad.”
He’d leaned forward and kissed her nose before setting her on her feet. “C’mon, Peanut. Time’s a wastin’. We better get down there before those brothers of yours find the snake in our Eden.”
She’d followed him down the hill, perturbed he hadn’t told her what was so special about this canyon. Until they reached the bottom. The moment Sophia’s gaze landed on all the pretty flowers and the butterflies dancing in the breeze, she forgot her disappointment. It was a magical garden, and they got to stay there for days. Just her and her dad.
The boys came running, punching each other and roughhousing as they went.
Well, almost perfect.
Nostalgia and sadness softened Sophia’s shoulders and she slumped in the saddle. Tony tightened his grip on her waist, tugging her against the wall of his chest.
“You’re beat. Quit fighting me and rest,” he murmured, his voice a low rumble—like her dad’s.
She gave up the struggle, snuggling into the warmth and protection afforded by his larger frame. The wind had picked up and lashed them with the falling rain. The world had turned gray and inhospitable. This was nothing like the trip she’d made with her family so many years ago. Then again, she wasn’t that naïve little girl who believed in fairytales anymore, either.
“Why do you stay?” She turned her head and stared at his grim visage. “Don’t you want a place of your own? A family?” To her knowledge, he’d never been off the ranch for more than a weekend in the ten years since he started. In many ways, this man she’d fallen in love with was an enigma.
He glanced down at her, rain dripping off the brim of his hat. “This is my home. You trying to get rid of me now?”
Sophia glared. “That isn’t what I meant and well you know it, Tony Morrison.”
She tried to straighten, but he was having none of it, controlling her easily until she resettled with an indignant huff. “Why won’t you ever treat me like an adult? Is it so wrong that I want to know more about you?”
The sorrel lost his footing in the mud and Tony tightened the reins, guiding the animal onto surer ground before answering her. “There’s not much to tell. I got in some trouble as a kid and my parents decided they’d teach me a lesson by kicking me out.” He glanced down and frowned. “Hey, none of that. I don’t need your sy
mpathy. They did me a favor.”
They rode along quietly for a while, then he added, “I count it the luckiest day of my life when your pa found me and brought me back to the ranch. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to repay your family for their kindness.”
The words were meant to reassure, Sophia knew that, but all they did was leave her immeasurably saddened. Tony would view any relationship with her as a betrayal of the trust her father had had in him. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her family.
Even though he was crushing her heart.
24
Matt woke up with his arm around a woman. He blinked, disorientated for a moment. And then it all came back to him.
Cassandra.
The bet.
His grandmother.
How had he allowed his life to become so complicated?
Cass muttered something in her sleep and rolled onto her back. He froze, his hand spanning her ribcage from waist to chest. He should probably move, give her some space, but he wasn’t going to. She felt too good in his arms, as though she belonged there. He squinted, wishing it wasn’t too dark to make out her features, although his mind painted a vivid picture anyway—one of a high, stubborn forehead and long curling lashes over sea-green eyes. A cute little nose, expressive mouth, and chin with just a hint of a cleft.
Her shirt had pulled taut under his fingers. He resisted the urge to loosen the snaps to make her more comfortable—and allow him access to all that velvet smooth skin—but it wasn’t easy. She tempted him. He loved to hear her snappy comebacks to his wisecracks, and the way her expressive eyes betrayed her emotions when she thought no one was looking.
Matt was no angel. He’d had his share of relationships, but somehow, with Cass, he felt like a teen drooling over his first crush. He’d been drawn to her from the moment he’d seen her standing up to the security guard at the casino. She had an inner fire impossible to ignore.
Hold 'Em: A Gambling Hearts Romance Page 8
