The Dakota Man

by Joan Hohl

  He smiled. “I know.”

  “It still does.”

  His smile softened. “I know. That’s why you’ve been keeping your distance from me, even though the attraction is still there, just as strong.”

  She nodded in agreement but didn’t return his smile.

  “Then, don’t you think we should explore this attraction? We could spend time together, away from this office and get to know each other. Not in bed,” he quickly assured her, “even though I’ll admit I want that, too.”

  “You’re suggesting a platonic relationship?” Maggie’s voice and expression were skeptical.

  “For a while…hopefully a short while…until we see if we have anything else going for us.”

  Maggie studied him, quiet, pensive. Too long.

  “Well, what do you say?” he said, impatience riding him. “I did promise I’d behave.”

  She sighed, smiled and said, “Okay.”

  And not a second too soon, because Mitch couldn’t hold his breath any longer.

  “I loved that movie,” Maggie exclaimed, laughing. “It was so off-the-wall.”

  “I’ll say.” Mitch laughed with her. “You can’t get more off-the-wall than the Frankenstein monster dancing and singing ‘Putting on the Ritz.”’

  Maggie nodded. “I must have seen it a dozen times,” she confessed.

  Mitch grinned. “Me, too.”

  His grin sent a shiver down Maggie’s spine. Wrapping her trembling fingers around her coffee cup, she raised it to her lips. Dinner was over. She had enjoyed every bite of the meal; she had enjoyed Mitch’s company more, even though he did send hot and cold chills through her.

  Ever since Mitch had picked her up at the apartment—he wouldn’t hear of her meeting him somewhere, then driving home alone afterward—his behavior had been above reproach. He had opened the car door for her, usurped the restaurant host by holding her chair for her, and had broken the initial awkward silence by recounting amusing anecdotes.

  Nervous at the outset, she had been nearly overwhelmed by the sheer masculine attraction of him. She yearned for him, and the yearning both scared and annoyed her, rendering her almost incapable of anything but the most monosyllabic responses to his attempts at conversation.

  But her vocal ice was broken the first time he made her laugh. From then on, talking got easier. The evening became less a strain and surprisingly enlightening.

  Maggie would never have dreamed that two people from different parts of the country with completely different lifestyles could have so much in common. And yet they did.

  She had already known, of course, that they both preferred caffeinated coffee. But, over the course of the meal, she had discovered they shared a passion for sunsets over sunrises, mind-teasing mystery stories, cheeseburgers and pasta. Their mutual appreciation of zany comedy was the latest discovery.

  “I want children.”

  Mitch’s bald statement startled Maggie out of her things-in-common amazement. “What?”

  “I said, I want children.” He shrugged. “I just thought I’d make that clear up front.”

  “Okay,” she said warily. “And your point being…?”

  “You told me…that night…that you had convinced yourself you were in love, because you wanted to step off the career treadmill, have a home life, a family. I wanted you to know that I want those same things.”

  So had Todd, or so he’d said, Maggie thought, her mellow mood rapidly dissipating. But all she’d been to Todd was a convenient bed partner, until something better came along. The old resentment flared, fueled by new resentment for Mitch, for ruining the pleasant evening.

  “I…ah, think I’d like to go home now,” she said, her voice tight, her body trembling.

  “Maggie, I’m not him.” Mitch’s voice was harsh with frustration.

  “I know that.” Carefully setting her cup in the saucer, she folded her hands in her lap.

  “Then cut me some slack.” He raked long fingers through his neatly brushed hair. “Dammit, Maggie, you’re driving me nuts. I want you, you know that. But I want more than a couple nights in bed with you, or a couple months. I want it all. I know I promised not to pressure you, but…” He broke off, cursing under his breath. “I’m bungling this, I know. But, you see, I’ve never been in this position before. I’ve never been in love before.”

  Love. Maggie blinked. Love? Impossible. Wasn’t it? They barely knew each other. Yet, she had felt the same emotional stirrings. Had felt she could easily fall in love with him if, that is, she didn’t already love him.

  Maggie was very afraid that she was in love with him. And it scared the hell out of her. He scared the hell out of her. What if she were to commit herself to him, and then… No. She shook her head. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if Mitch were to walk out on her.

  “I want to go home,” she repeated in an agonized whisper, denying an inner longing to find a home in his arms.

  “Maggie, trust me, please,” he implored her, his voice raw. “I won’t hurt you.”

  “I…need time.”

  “How much time?”

  “I…don’t know.”

  “All right. Take all the time you need. I’ll wait.” He sighed. “I have no other choice.”

  The atmosphere in the office the next day was rather strained, although Mitch made a gallant effort at maintaining a normal workday appearance.

  Though she tried to emulate his in-office professional attitude, Maggie was miserable. Her heart was torn between the desire to take a chance, grab hold of Mitch, accept whatever he offered, and the chilling fear of again losing everything.

  They circled around each other like two magnetized metals, fighting the attraction drawing them together.

  Off in her own rosy world of planning a future with Ben and the child she was carrying, Karla was unconscious of the drama being played out between Mitch and Maggie.

  On Friday, Maggie sighed in relief, tension easing as lunchtime approached. It was Karla’s last day of work. With Mitch’s ready approval, Maggie had planned a surprise baby shower for her during the lunch break. He had even bent the rules a little, not only by extending the lunch hour for the other female office workers on the second floor, but by shifting break periods for the women friends of Karla’s on the casino floor and in the restaurant, so they could join the party. He had also made arrangements for the restaurant kitchen staff to cater the affair and provide a decorated cake.

  By prearrangement, Mitch called Karla into the office ten minutes before noon. The moment the door closed behind her, Maggie went into action. Ushering the tiptoeing women and servers into the outer office, they got to work, stringing streamers, positioning a pink-and-blue-striped umbrella, setting out the food and drinks.

  Within fifteen minutes, everything was in place. Maggie alerted Mitch with a short buzz of the intercom. Karla exited his office to cries of “Surprise!” Flabbergasted, she laughed, then burst into tears. Shaking his head at the mysterious emotions of pregnant females, Mitch beat a hasty retreat, making himself scarce by doing a regular sweep of the premises.

  It was great fun. There was a lot of laughter and teasing, mingled with a few scattered tears. When it came time to open the pile of gifts set before her, Karla rummaged in her desk for a pair of scissors. Finding none, she glanced at Maggie.

  “I think there’s a pair in Mitch’s office. Try the top-center desk drawer.”

  Maggie zipped into the office and to his desk. She found the small pair of scissors, but that wasn’t all she found. Shoved into one corner was a ring. It wasn’t just any old ring, but what appeared to Maggie to be an obviously expensive and elaborate engagement ring.

  Frowning, she removed the scissors, closed the drawer and returned to the party. But a niggling concern dampened her spirit.

  Although the party lasted less than two hours, it seemed to drag much longer for Maggie. It ended when Mitch strode back into the office. Taking their cue, the employees drifted back to work, the
women from the restaurant taking the food and drink carts with them. Maggie began clearing away wrapping paper and stacking the gifts.

  “You two might as well call it a day,” Mitch said, smiling into Karla’s flushed, bemused face. “I’ve asked Frank to come help you carry your loot to the car.”

  “Oh, but…” Karla began in token protest.

  Troubled by the possible connotations concerning the ring she had seen in his desk, Maggie stayed silent.

  “No buts,” he decreed. “The excitement has tired you. Go home and rest.” He ended the discussion by walking into his office and shutting the door.

  Frank arrived with another security guard in tow, and between the four of them, they managed to transfer the gifts to Maggie’s car in one trip.

  It wasn’t until after they were in Karla’s apartment, the gifts piled on the sofa and Karla settled in a chair, that Maggie tentatively broached the subject of the ring.

  “Oh, that.” Karla made a face.

  “It looked like an engagement ring,” Maggie ventured. “A very expensive engagement ring.”

  “It is…or was,” Karla said, nodding. “Mitch was engaged for a few months to the daughter of a prominent local family. The wedding date was set, but…” She shrugged.

  Maggie felt a chill. Not another man who made commitments, then broke them at will? She had to know.

  “What happened?”

  Karla sighed. “It was a misunderstanding on Miss Crane’s part.”

  Miss Crane? The name rang a sharp peal in Maggie’s memory. She’d taken a call from a Natalie Crane, demanding to speak to Mitch. And Maggie remembered his harsh order for her to get rid of the woman. The chill intensified inside her.

  “I felt terrible about it,” Karla continued.

  Maggie frowned. “What did you have to do with it?”

  “It happened right after I found out I was pregnant,” she explained. “I was upset, afraid to tell my parents. I didn’t know where to turn.” She sighed again. “So I cried my troubles out to Mitch…literally. Trying to comfort me, he held me in his arms and let me cry on his shoulder. We didn’t hear Miss Crane enter the office. She saw me in his arms, heard me mention the baby and naturally assumed the worst. She threw the ring at him and ran out.”

  “But…surely he went after her…explained the situation?” Maggie asked.

  “No.” Karla shook her head. “I offered to go see her, explain the circumstances, but he wouldn’t let me. He said it was over, and that was that.”

  “I see,” Maggie murmured, very much afraid that what she saw was the picture of a man, a bedrock-hard man, who could discard women as easily as he could a rumpled shirt. The very idea caused a sharp pain in her heart.

  After coaxing Karla to lie down and rest, Maggie climbed the stairs to her apartment, where she curled up on the window seat to do some heavy thinking.

  She loved him, Maggie acknowledged. And this time, the emotion was for real—it wouldn’t hurt so badly if it weren’t. But fear and trepidation riddled her thinking. An impulse to hit the trail was strong and compelling. At the same time, an equally strong impulse urged her to stay, confront Mitch with her knowledge of his previous engagement, hear whatever he had to say for himself.

  But she was so afraid to trust again. If she were to have her trust thrown back in her face, she knew that something inside her would shatter.

  Her ruminations were interrupted by Mitch’s phone call later that afternoon.

  “Hi, is our little mother okay after all the tears and excitement?”

  “Yes,” Maggie answered, her stomach lurching at the sound of his voice, a longing for him tugging at her emotions. “I think she’s having a nap.”

  “Good. How about you and I having dinner?”

  “Mitch… I…” Maggie paused to swallow against the emotional tightness in her throat.

  “Maggie, what is it?” His tone had an edge of anxiety. “What’s wrong?”

  In that instant, Maggie made a decision. She was tired of running. She had to know, even if the knowing squashed her emotionally. “We must…talk.”

  “I’ll be right over,” he said at once.

  “No.” Maggie gave a sharp shake of her head, even though he couldn’t see her. “I don’t want Karla to start wondering why you’re here. I’ll go there… You’re still at the office?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  A few minutes. Her words echoed in Maggie’s head all the way to the casino. Within a few short minutes her whole world could change.

  Mitch was standing by the window, waiting for her. His expression was somber, his body rigid with tension.

  “What’s this all about, Maggie?”

  Maggie crossed directly to his desk, slid open the top drawer. “This afternoon, quite by accident, I saw this.” She lifted the ring with two fingers.

  “It is, or was an engagement ring,” he said, walking toward her to pluck the bauble from her fingers. “Rather garish and ostentatious, isn’t it?”

  Since that had been her own private opinion, Maggie had to agree. “Yes.”

  “What about it?” With a careless flick of his fingers, he tossed it back into the drawer and closed it.

  “I asked Karla about it.”

  “Of course.” He smiled, a wry twist of his lips. “And immediately jumped to conclusions about me. None of them favorable. Right?”

  At his cool tone, Maggie suddenly recalled Karla’s words, telling her about Mitch’s thoughts on trust. And she knew, without his spelling it out, that he was daring her to test it, test him…while simultaneously, he would test her.

  “I’m afraid so,” she confessed, facing him squarely. “I’ve been burned before, Mitch.”

  “Not by me,” he pointed out in hard tones.

  “Yet,” she retaliated.

  His chest expanded, then contracted on a sigh. “What the hell do you expect me to do? I’m sure Karla told you the sorry details. What more is there to say?”

  “You tossed Miss Crane aside as easily as you tossed that ring into the drawer,” she cried accusingly.

  “She didn’t trust me,” he retorted angrily. “So why should I have given a damn?”

  The trust thing. Still, something didn’t ring right to Maggie. A question niggled. “But I just indicated a doubt in your trust. Where’s the difference?”

  “I love you,” he declared, in less than loverlike tones. “I never loved her. As I believe I already told you, I’ve never loved any other woman.”

  “Oh,” Maggie murmured, feeling confused and extremely flattered at one and the same time. “And loving me, you’re willing to be patient with my doubts?”

  “Hell, yes,” he said, hauling her into his arms. “Maggie, you’ve been hurt. I understand that. And you’re cautious. I understand that, too. But I love you. And I want you. In bed. Out of bed. In my life. And because of that, I’ll be patient until you admit to me, and yourself, that you love me, too. The trust will follow.”

  This man was too good for her, the dimwit who had been ready to settle for a man she hadn’t truly loved, Maggie conceded…to herself. But, whether or not she deserved him, his love, she wasn’t about to be so foolish as to let him get away from her. She was going to grab him and hang on tight—for the rest of her life.

  Putting action to thought, Maggie coiled her arms around his neck and clung.

  “I already love you, Mitch,” she said, her body springing to vibrant life at the touch, the feel of him pressing urgently against her. “That’s why I was so damned scared.”

  “I knew that,” he murmured, with supreme self-confidence. “That’s why I only panicked a little bit when you said we had to talk.”

  Laughing together between rapidly heating kisses, Maggie and Mitch made their slow, sense-arousing way up the stairs to his apartment, to his bed.

  Two weeks before Christmas, Karla, now Mrs. Ben Daniels, gave birth to a healthy, squalling son.


  Staring through the nursery window at the red-faced baby, Mitch circled an arm around Maggie’s waist and drew her close to his side to whisper in her ear.

  “I want one of those,” he murmured, indicating the baby. “Marry me, Maggie.”

  Tears glistening in her eyes, Maggie turned her head to smile at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  The sound of Mitch’s joyous laughter rang through the hospital corridors.

  ISBN: 978-1-4603-1121-9

  THE DAKOTA MAN

  Copyright © 2000 by Joan Hohl

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the editorial office, Silhouette Books, 300 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017 U.S.A.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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  *Desire trilogy

  †Big, Bad Wolfe Series