“Yours?”
When he looked at her again, he offered her the slightly vacuous smile that had been his trademark. Only this time April didn’t know if she trusted it.
“This is my house, but I haven’t stayed here since my accident.” His words were once again halting, and he reached up and touched the back of his head as if in memory of the horrible event that had apparently changed his life.
April frowned, more confused than ever. When he’d thrown open the door and confronted her, his eyes had gleamed with sharpness and there had been no hint of simplemindedness.
He shifted from foot to foot and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Sorry I yelled at you before.”
“That’s all right. I should have been yelled at.”
He grinned at her. “You did something stupid. Usually I’m getting yelled at for doing something stupid.”
April laughed, the confusion that had rippled through her fading away. “Everyone does something stupid at one time or another.” She’d done more than her share, she thought. The first stupid thing she’d done was trust the men in her life.
As always, thoughts of Derrick and her father and her utter trust in them—a trust that had been betrayed—filled her with sadness and more than a little bit of anger. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing worse than trust betrayed.
“What were you doing outside?” he asked, then added, “You want to sit?” He gestured her to the sofa.
“No thanks, I’m probably all dusty. I took a walk out this direction to look at the old barn,” she explained.
“Why?”
“I thought it might be a wonderful place to hold some activities for the guests that come to the ranch.”
He pulled his hands from his pockets. “It’s old and dirty.”
“Yes, but it could be cleaned up,” she replied.
Mark shrugged. “You’d have to ask Matthew.”
She nodded. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged again. “I just like to come here sometimes.” He frowned, the gesture doing nothing to detract from his attractiveness. “I come here and try to remember how I was before…”
“Mr. Tilley told me what happened to you.”
“I got hurt bad, but Marietta got killed.” His eyes were suddenly shadowed with the darkness of grief. “And then my daddy died.” He threaded a hand through his thick, dark hair and sighed.
“Want something to drink?” he asked suddenly, and in the blink of his eyes the grief was gone.
“No, thanks. Could you point me in the right direction to get back to the ranch?”
“You can’t walk back in the dark. I’m ready to leave. I’ll take you back.” He dug into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys.
April preceded him out of the house and watched as he carefully locked up the place, then put the keys back in his pocket. With the ease of plenty of experience, he gracefully mounted the large horse, then held out his hand to her.
“I could just walk beside you,” she protested.
He grinned that slow, sexy smile that sent her pulse racing. “You afraid of horses? Or are you afraid of me?”
She felt the blush that stole over her features. “Neither,” she lied. Although the truth was she was a little afraid of both.
“It’s okay,” he said.
Swallowing her misgivings, she reached for his hand.
In one motion that spoke of the strength of his shoulders and arms, he easily lifted her up so she straddled the saddle in front of him.
As Mark settled into the saddle behind her, she realized she had nothing to worry about where the horse was concerned. However, Mark’s intimate closeness was another thing altogether.
His arms encircled her as he grabbed the reins. His masculine scent surrounded her, a heady scent that teased her senses and seemed to heat the blood flowing inside her.
She held herself stiffly erect, trying to ignore the feel of his thighs against hers, his groin pressed tightly against her bottom. The movement of the horse as they headed back to the ranch only exacerbated the intimacy of their bodies.
April was grateful he didn’t try to carry on a conversation. She wasn’t sure she could respond. Her entire concentration was completely used up in processing overwhelming physical sensations.
The rough rub of Mark’s denim jeans against her bare legs felt erotic, the warmth of his arms surrounding her encouraged her to lean back and accept the full tactile pleasure of his body so close to hers. But she didn’t. She remained rigidly upright, trying to maintain what little distance she could from him.
It wasn’t until the horse began to move faster, jostling her up and down uncomfortably in the saddle that Mark pulled her back against him. “It’s more comfortable if you just relax,” he said, the words spoken achingly close to her ear.
Leaning flush against him might have made the ride more comfortable where the horse was concerned, but it was also too intimate, too familiar for April to fully relax.
His chest was hard and muscled against her back, and she thought she could detect his heartbeat pounding an uneven rhythm. She knew her own heart was beating faster than usual.
She was grateful when the lights of the ranch came into view, letting her know the ride would only last another minute or two. Night had completely descended, wrapping them in a blanket of darkness penetrated only by the full moon overhead.
Mark rode straight into the stable corral and drew the horse to a halt. With graceful agility, he dismounted, then reached up and grabbed her by the waist to help her down.
She came off the horse and found herself in his arms. She stepped back quickly, needing to put as much distance as possible between them. “Thanks for the ride,” she said.
He nodded, his eyes glittering in the light of the moon overhead. “I’ll walk you to your cottage.”
“That’s not necessary,” she protested. Her entire body felt as if it was electrically charged. She had never been so physically attracted to a man. He affected her like no man ever had before, on a visceral level that had nothing to do with intellect. And that frightened her more than a little.
Despite her protest, he fell into step beside her as she started toward her cottage. “Brian told me to come to dinner tomorrow,” he said.
“Yes, so he said.” A deep, eerie howl split the quiet of the night. “What’s that?” April asked, the hairs on the nape of her neck rising.
“Coyote.” Mark pointed up to the fat, almost round moon. “It’s pretty close to a coyote moon.”
“Coyote moon?” She looked up at him curiously as they reached her front door.
“A full moon. It makes the coyotes cry and people go crazy.” He reached up and touched the back of his head. “It was a coyote moon on the night I got hurt.”
“I’m sorry somebody hurt you, Mark.” And she was dreadfully sorry. She could only guess at what his potential might have been, and the thought took her breath away. “Again, thank you for bringing me home,” she said as she unlocked her front door.
“Don’t walk in the desert again.”
She turned back to him and smiled. “I promise I won’t.”
He nodded, then before she could even guess his intentions, he stepped toward her and kissed her. The action was so unexpected, she had no immediate defenses.
His lips captured hers with cool confidence and a mastery that, someplace in the back of her mind, astonished her. Whatever inadequacies his injury had caused him, none of them were evident in his kiss. He used his tongue to deepen the kiss, skillfully sending rivulets of fire throughout her body as his arms encircled her and pulled her tight against him.
For just a moment, a single, exquisite moment, she responded and allowed herself to fall into the pleasure of the kiss. And just as quickly reality set in, and all the reasons she shouldn’t be kissing Mark filled her head.
With a gasp she stepped back from him, her head reeling with the enormity of what they had just done. “Mark, I…you…we sh
ouldn’t have done that.”
He was already walking away. “’Night, April,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
She watched helplessly as he disappeared into the night. Her mouth still burned from the intimate contact with his. The kiss had awakened an ache deep within her, an ache she had no intention of assuaging.
She tipped her head back and stared up at the full moon. Coyote moon. The kind of moon that makes people do crazy things. It was the only explanation for her momentary lapse of judgment.
The kiss had changed things. His kiss had made her realize he was attracted to her as a man to a woman. He’d moved their tenuous relationship into an unexpected arena, and she knew it was up to her to call a halt to things before they completely progressed out of control. Tomorrow night, after Mark ate Brian’s special hamburgers, she and the handsome cowboy had to have a difficult talk—for his sake and for her own, as well.
The taste of her mouth lingered while he brushed down the huge horse, as did the heat of her body pressed so close against his.
He hadn’t intended to kiss her. When the impulse had struck him, he had just followed it to its pleasurable conclusion. And what a pleasure it had been. If he’d had his way he’d have carried her into her cottage and made love to her, swept all other worries and fears and bad things out of his head and simply indulged himself in the selfish pleasure of enjoying her body.
Releasing a sigh of frustration, he brushed the horse’s coat with more force, trying to work out the ball of energy that burned in his stomach.
He was nearly finished with the horse when he heard voices approaching the stable. Two men stood just outside the door, apparently unaware of his presence inside.
“The boss says to prepare for a big shipment in about two weeks time.” Mark instantly recognized Billy Carr’s voice.
“I don’t know,” the second deep voice replied, a voice Mark didn’t recognize. “I don’t like it. Things are getting too out of hand. Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”
“You can’t back out now,” Billy said, a mean tone in his voice. “You’re in as deep as the rest of us. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I’m not. All I’m saying is that we’ve been lucky so far. Maybe it’s time to quit the whole operation.”
Every muscle in Mark’s body tensed, and adrenaline flooded through him. Operation? Was this what Marietta had discovered?
“We don’t quit until the boss says we quit,” Billy replied angrily.
Mark needed to see the man Billy was talking to. This was the first real substantial clue that something was happening here at the ranch.
He put the horse in the stall, then ambled out the door. With a grin he said, “Hi, Billy.” He tensed, praying his act would serve him well.
Billy jumped in surprise and the man next to him muttered a curse beneath his breath. “Mark, buddy. I didn’t know you were in there.” He grabbed Mark by the shoulder and slapped him on the back. “Larry, this here is Mark Delaney.”
The man named Larry muttered another curse and pulled his hat down farther as if to obscure his features. Billy laughed, an unpleasant deep chuckle and slapped Mark on the back once again. “Don’t worry, Larry. There’s no grain in Mark’s silo, if you get my drift.”
Larry frowned and eyed Mark suspiciously. Mark kept the fool smile stretched across his lips.
“So, what are you guys doing out here?” Mark asked.
“Just looking at the moon,” Billy said. “It’s a beauty tonight.”
“Yeah, a coyote moon.” Mark looked up, but shot a surreptitious glance at Larry, memorizing the man’s features in his brain. He didn’t know who Larry was—but he would find out before the next day was over.
“Shouldn’t you get inside?” Billy asked.
“I could stay out here and watch the moon with you guys,” Mark replied. Larry cursed again beneath his breath. Mark decided to take a gamble. “Are you sick, Billy?” he asked curiously.
“Never been better, why would you think I was sick?”
Mark could feel his foolish smile firmly in place. “I thought you said something about an operation.”
Larry shot a worried glance to Billy. “Yeah, I’ve been checking into operations for you. You know, brain surgery to make you smart.” He sniggered and elbowed Larry, who didn’t look amused by any of it.
Mark was not amused, either. But he was definitely filled with adrenaline. “That’s real nice of you, Billy.”
“I’m out of here,” Larry replied. “We’ll talk later.” He didn’t wait for a reply, but instead disappeared into the shadows of the night.
“You better get inside the house, Mark,” Billy said.
Mark knew there was nothing more to be learned here at the moment. “’Night, Billy.”
As he walked toward the main house, his mind whirled. Marietta had been right. The brief conversation he’d overhead was his first real proof that there was something going on here, something that involved Billy and Larry—and something certainly illegal.
Drugs? They’d spoken of a shipment coming in. Was it possible the ranch was being used to run drugs between the states and Mexico?
Mark’s blood ran cold at the very thought that the ranch he loved, the ranch their father had sweated blood and tears over, might be in use for nefarious purposes. Billy had talked about the boss. Who was the boss in the operation?
It would have to be somebody intimately acquainted with the ranch hands, somebody who would know who would be interested in a little illegal cash on the side. Matthew? Sheriff Broder? Any number of people could be the boss.
When Mark entered the house, he heard the voices of his sister and brothers drifting out of the family room. Their conversation wasn’t the soft sounds of a family visiting, but rather strident and discordant.
Mark felt as if he were on sensory overload. First, the sweet, sensual kiss with April, then those moments of discovery with Billy and Larry. He needed time to think, time to process it all.
He started past the family room door but was halted by Matthew’s voice. “Mark!”
With a sigh Mark backtracked and entered the large room. Matthew stood at the wet bar, while Luke and Johnna were seated on the sofa. “Hi,” he said.
“Where in the hell have you been?” Matthew demanded, his features taut.
Mark shrugged, fighting a healthy dose of indignation. “Out,” he replied.
“You know I’ve told you not to be out after dark,” Matthew replied.
“For God’s sake, Matthew,” Johnna protested. “You treat Mark like he’s a little boy with a curfew.”
Matthew shot Johnna a warning glare, and Mark suddenly felt weary beyond belief. The undercurrents that were constantly at work between his siblings exhausted him, and it angered him that their father had never taught them how to be a real family.
“I’m tired,” Mark said. He was far too tired to listen to them fight. Eventually, if they intended to hang on to the ranch, they were going to have to figure out how to get along with each other.
At the moment it didn’t seem to matter that some outside source might threaten the ranch. Mark suspected the biggest threat the ranch faced was the one from within—the Delaney siblings themselves.
Mark headed for his bedroom, the burden of his deception weighing heavy in his heart. He’d like to share the burden with somebody, but who?
The rational answer was to talk to his brothers and sister, but how could he overlook the possibility that one of them might be responsible for an illegal operation? And if Marietta had been killed to silence her, then it was possible one of the members of his own family was guilty of murder.
Chapter 6
It was easy for April, in the light of day, to rationalize away the power, the absolute wonder of Mark’s kiss, as Brian chattered on about his night with Ricky and she made pancakes.
Still, that didn’t keep the memory of their kiss from haunting her subconscious. Her lips had burned thr
oughout the night, and her dreams had been erotic ones of Mark making love to her with the same mastery and skill that his kiss had possessed.
Of course the kiss had affected her, she thought as she poured the first pancake onto the awaiting griddle, it had been years since she’d been kissed at all. Like Sleeping Beauty, she’d been awakened by Mark’s kiss. It had stirred emotions and sensations she’d believed forgotten.
But, of course, it was a kiss that wouldn’t, couldn’t be repeated. It had been an impulse on his part, and just as impulsively she had responded.
She liked Mark. She found him warm and pleasant and overwhelmingly attractive. And if she looked deep within herself, she’d have to admit that there was a part of her that was drawn to what everyone else saw as his mental inadequacies.
He appeared incapable of deception, open and uncomplicated in his thought process. So unlike Derrick, who had lied almost every time he’d spoken to her during their three-year marriage. Derrick, who had smoothly betrayed her heart.
Her heart had eventually healed, but it had taken longer to deal with the havoc he’d wreaked on her financial status. He’d used their joint credit cards to finance a lifestyle far beyond what their resources would allow. April hadn’t realized how deeply they were in trouble until Derrick had left her, leaving behind a tribe of angry creditors.
And what little financial resources April had finally managed to regain, her own father had ultimately “borrowed” and lost, leaving her and Brian virtually destitute.
These two betrayals, deep and devastating, had left April with a deep wariness and a reluctance to ever trust again.
But Mark was definitely different from the men in April’s past. Nonthreatening, refreshingly candid and seemingly gentle, he drew her to him.
If she were truly honest with herself, she would have to admit that he wasn’t nonthreatening in a physical sense. He threatened her with the heat of his eyes, the fire of his touch, the masculine sexuality that promised pleasure beyond compare.
However, she’d been soundly warned to stay away from him.
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