Taste of Passion (Madaris Novels)

by Brenda Jackson

  “That’s a good idea,” Jake said. “Has Ashton been apprised of what’s happened? I think he’d want to know,” Jake went on to ask.

  “Not yet. He’s in Houston for the summer. I tried contacting him earlier but it seems Sir Drake is in town and Ashton, Trevor, and Drake left to spend a few hours on the gun range.” Trevor and Sir Drake—as he was fondly called by everyone—were friends of Ashton. The three had served in the Marines Special Forces together and were as close as any blood brothers could be. And Luke knew Trevor well since he had been a close friend of the Madarises for as long as Luke could remember.

  “Well, I plan to visit soon and I’ll let you know in advance as to exactly when. I promised Mom I would be coming to check on you anyway. I don’t think she’s taking Blade’s version of how well you’re doing at face value.”

  Luke chuckled. “I’ll look forward to seeing you.”

  Luke hung up the phone and went in search of Mackenzie. He found her at the kitchen table knee-deep in papers. The moment he walked into the kitchen he was assaulted with pleasant memories of what had happened in this very room yesterday.

  Mackenzie glanced up and met his gaze and from the look in her eyes he knew she was remembering as well. “Hey,” she said, smiling over at him. “Margaret’s gone?”

  “Yes, she left a half hour ago.” Mac had finally gotten to meet his physical therapist. Not surprisingly, she liked the woman.

  “How did things go today?” she asked, pushing her papers aside.

  “Pretty good. Margaret said I’m coming along nicely and she sees no reason for me not to be ready to compete in September if I continue at the rate I’m going.” As he slid into the chair across from her he suddenly realized that getting better meant moving on and leaving her behind. The thought of that bothered him for some reason.

  “What you got here?” he asked, glancing at the papers she had spread out.

  “Research papers on other eminent domain cases. I can’t believe how that law has shifted over the years.”

  “In what way?”

  “It’s amazing how many corporations have managed to take over land owned by private citizens. That was not the original intent of that law.”

  Luke leaned back and listened to Mac explain the law in detail and why she was determined to make sure her client wasn’t taken advantage of. As he listened he couldn’t help but be impressed with not only her vast knowledge of the law, but also with how dedicated she was to her client.

  “This case is important, and now more than anything I can’t let Whitedyer think their scare tactics are working. I’ve gone over these papers a dozen times but I feel there’s something here that I’m missing. I only wish there was someone a little more familiar in this area, with whom I could run by some of my ideas before the hearing next week.”

  “May I make a suggestion?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Why not give Clayton and Syneda a call? Although their specialty is family law, I know for a fact they’re well informed in other areas, even corporate law. Blade and Slade use them all the time. I’m sure they’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have.”

  Hope shone in her eyes. “You think they will?”

  “You’ll never know unless you ask,” he said, standing to take the cell phone out of his back pocket to hand to her. Luke knew that his cousin Clayton and his wife Syneda, a power couple if there ever was one, were fast becoming two of the most sought-after attorneys in Texas. “Go ahead and call them.”

  Mackenzie smiled as she took the phone from him. “I think that I will.”

  Syneda Madaris walked into her husband’s office, and when she saw he was on the phone she sat in the chair across from his desk. He glanced over at her and smiled and then returned to the call, but only giving whoever he was conversing with part of his attention. She knew she had the other part. Just to be sure, she crossed her legs and watched the movement of his eyes. With regard to his wife he was very observant. In other words, he didn’t miss a thing.

  And he was definitely a good-looking man. Always had been, and the years had definitely been kind to him, overly generous was more like it. He could still turn female heads when he walked into a room. Only difference was, nowadays he didn’t look back. He only had eyes for her. Just like she only had eyes for him. Pathetic? No, actually she thought it was wonderful that after nearly nine years of marriage she could still put that sparkle in his eyes, and he could make her appreciate being a woman. Anyplace and at any time. She couldn’t help but smile thinking about some of those places and times. Scandalous. Exciting. Typical Clayton and Syneda.

  “Hey, beautiful, you’re smiling,” Clayton said, interrupting her thoughts and hanging up the phone. “What’s up?”

  She shifted position in the chair and his gaze followed her every movement. She grinned. “I just talked to Mac.”

  He lifted a brow. “Ashton’s Mac?”

  She shook her head. “No, Luke’s Mac.”

  “What do you mean, Luke’s Mac? You talk like there’s something going on between them.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. His keen sense of observation was limited to her at times. “There is.”

  He leaned forward. “There is?” he asked in a disbelieving tone.

  “Yes, you sound surprised.”

  “I am. How could I have missed that?”

  “The same way you missed Alex and Christy,” she said smartly, grinning at the frown that appeared just then on his face. “You need to pay attention more. There’s been some interest between them ever since the night of the Brothers’ Auction at Sisters.”

  Clayton shook his head. “Hell, the only thing I remember about that night is Corinthians going into labor.”

  He didn’t say anything for a moment and then asked, “Hey, wait a minute. Do you know for certain that something is going on or are you just speculating?”

  “Speculating, but I’m willing to bet.”

  “Not with my money. I need every penny to keep you and Remington in clothes. Now why was Mac calling?”

  “She needs our help for a case she’s working on. An eminent domain issue. It sounds interesting.”

  “You want to come over here and fill me in?” he asked, pushing away from his desk and patting his lap.

  She laughed. “I’m fine just where I am, Madaris. Besides, sitting in your lap always gets me in trouble.”

  “I promise to behave.”

  “Ha!” she said, sending a mass of golden bronze hair flying around her shoulders. “Sweetheart, you don’t know the meaning of the word.”

  He laughed. “Do you?”

  Umm, he had her there. “No.”

  “Okay, then come over here and lose the skirt. And for heaven’s sake, don’t forget to lock the door.”

  She chuckled, knowing why he’d made that request. The last time their secretary had been out to lunch, but they hadn’t counted on Clayton’s brother Dex, who also had an office in the Madaris Building, nearly walking in on them.

  “Don’t you think we’re getting too old for this?” she asked, getting to her feet, stepping out of her heels, and unzipping her skirt.

  “No. I’ll still be thinking about different ways to make love to you when I’m in a wheelchair.”

  Syneda smiled. She had no reason not to believe him.

  Luke stood in the doorway of Mackenzie’s bedroom. She had taken a shower while he was outside talking to Theo, and was now wearing her bathrobe and sitting in the middle of the bed—Indian-style—while reading something from a huge book. Seeing her affected him the way it always did.

  She had the ability to stir something hot and elemental within him to the point where it became an uncontrollable blaze. Last night had been proof of that. Desire for her had raged through him, stoked an inner fire that made his need to mate with her that much more intense. She had reciprocated, hung on to him, wrapped her legs around him to lock him inside of her—as if he would actually try and go somewhere e
lse. Hell, he had used nearly half a dozen condoms; more than he’d ever used in a single night with any woman. And he had a feeling that again tonight he would be using just that many. He needed to take her mind off things for a while and couldn’t think of a better way to do it.

  He moved and she glanced up. He met her eyes and instantly he felt a surge of heat flare in his stomach, which went straight to his aroused body part like an arrow finding the bull’s-eye, making it throb that much more. She put the book aside when he began walking toward her. Halfway there he picked up her scent, a succulent blend of her own body chemistry and her favorite perfume.

  When he stopped at the bed she tilted her head back to look up at him, and without saying a single word he lowered his head, captured her lips, and tasted her deeply with a hunger that he felt all the way to his toes. Her initial reaction had been a gasp, then a moan, and without disconnecting their mouths he eased onto the bed with her.

  Driven with a need to touch her everywhere, he parted her robe and his hands automatically moved to her breasts, fondling and caressing the hardened nipples of the twin peaks before shifting downward to the swell of her hips. And then his hands glided lower to her stomach, while mating with her mouth in a way that could only be described as blatantly erotic.

  Slowly, his hand left her stomach to slide downward to the hot spot between her legs. Once there his fingers gently toiled in her wetness, stroking her there while his lips bathed kisses along the base of her throat and neck.

  He pulled back and removed his hand from her to adjust his body so that he was kneeling in front of her. He lowered his gaze to the feminine area exposed for his view and then back up at her eyes. He knew what he wanted to do and decided she should know as well. “I want to taste you, there,” he said evocatively.

  He looked back down at her and when he met her gaze again, he added in a deep, husky voice, “Sweetheart, I want to totally devour you.”

  Totally devour you.

  Mackenzie swallowed, not sure what she was supposed to say. No man had ever said such a thing to her . . . had never performed such an act on her. Lawrence was too traditional to ever consider such a thing. But the one thing she had discovered about Luke, especially after last night in the kitchen and later in this very bedroom, he was open-minded about doing almost anything when it came to making love.

  He reached out and touched her chin and she met his gaze. From the look in his eyes she figured that somehow he knew. She wasn’t sure what might have given her away. It was probably because she had yet to say anything, or it could have been the way her lashes swept up.

  “I’m going to make it special. As special as I think you are.”

  His words held a promise that she knew he was going to fulfill and doubted she could love him any more than she did at that very moment. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest and a heated sensation was rushing through her veins. She wanted him.

  “Luke . . .”

  He lowered his head and she parted her lips, and then he captured her mouth in his. The soft stroke of his tongue on hers had her groaning deep in her throat, and when she felt his hand go back to her feminine core, touch her the same way he had earlier, she nearly lifted her hips off the bed.

  He removed his hands from her long enough to ease the robe from her body and then, in an unexpected move, he shifted her to her stomach. Leaning over, he whispered in her ear, “Close your eyes and just feel.”

  And she did.

  She hadn’t known her flesh was so sensitive until she felt his heated tongue trace a path all over it. Starting at her upper back, he ran the tip of his tongue down the back of her neck to her collarbone and then he began tasting her, licking every inch of her skin and sending sensations she had never felt before spreading all through her. By the time he had made it down to the area just above her buttocks, she could barely lie still. It seemed every part of her that his mouth touched was damp and her limbs felt heavy.

  “Luke . . .”

  She was startled when she felt him place a hickey, branding her as his, right smack on her buttocks. “Now for the other side,” he said, slowly flipping her over on her back.

  For a moment she felt totally exposed while he slowly raked his gaze over her. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered hoarsely. And before she could thank him for his compliment, he lowered his mouth to kiss her. The plunge of his tongue into her mouth made heat settle between her legs, and when he pulled back to trail a kiss to her breasts she almost lost her breath.

  Without wasting any time, he licked a circle around her nipple, making it wet and then gently blowing it dry. Her body quivered when he took the nipple into his mouth again, sucking on it in a way that jolted sensations through her. After taking time to pleasure the other breast, he then moved his mouth lower to her stomach.

  “You have a sexy navel,” he whispered, just moments before taking his tongue and tasting the area surrounding it. He eased lower, and when he was there, right up close to her feminine core, she heard him utter the words “Mac’s sweetness” before lowering his head to her.

  Another quiver, one more intense than before, ran through her the moment his tongue touched her, and she moaned out loud when he slowly but thoroughly tasted her. And then it seemed he pulled her wet and sensitive flesh into his hot mouth and began devouring her with an intensity that set a mirage of sensations ripping through her body. He used his hands to hook her legs over his shoulders to devour her with a hunger that she didn’t know could exist until now.

  Her breathing became ragged when she felt herself tumbling to a place she wasn’t afraid to go, at least not with him. She felt her fingers reach down to grip his shoulders, felt how she lifted her hips off the bed to get even closer to his mouth.

  “Luke!”

  She felt her world explode, and his tongue, instead of retreating, went in deeper, with a hunger that made her body tremble in pleasure so complete it took her breath away. And while she forced breath back into her lungs, she felt him alternately nip and lick the sensitive skin surrounding her inner thighs.

  She felt the mattress shift and knew the exact moment that he had moved away from the bed to take off his clothes and put on a condom. And then he was back, towering over her, and moved his naked body in place over hers, supporting his weight with his hands on both sides of her.

  “Did you enjoy that?” he asked, licking his lips as if he were still savoring her flavor.

  There was no way she could lie. “Yes.”

  “I’m glad.” He held her gaze for a moment and then said, “And now I want to get inside of you so bad I can’t stand it. I want to ride you in a way you’ve never been ridden before.”

  The thought of that barely gave her the strength to smile. For the first time in her life she was a woman whose response to a man was totally overwhelming. Needing to experience what he’d just said, the only reply she could make was, “Then go for it, cowboy.”

  He returned her smile when he settled his hips between her thighs, and before she could draw her next breath, he entered her. And although she knew she was imagining things, he seemed to have gone deeper inside of her than he had the night before. She inwardly shuddered at the thought as sensations began to slowly build back up within her.

  And then he began moving, stroking her body intimately with long, deep thrusts and making her call his name over and over as he rode her with unbridled passion and sent electrical surges rippling through her. She was helpless to do anything but buck her hips upward to meet each of his downward thrusts.

  When he increased the pace, reality slipped away and the grinding of his body into hers triggered her entrance into ecstasy. She screamed his name when her body broke into tiny fragmented pieces. And then she heard him holler her name the moment he exploded inside of her. She clamped her muscles to hold him in place, refusing to let him go. Needing to milk him for all she could.

  Moments later she lay drained and he shifted his body off her and pulled her into his arms. When he
felt her shiver he pulled the covers over them. She fought back the tears that threatened. He’d said that he would make it special for her and he had. They were making memories; the kind that would have to sustain her long after he was gone.

  Chapter 16

  “Ms. Standfield, a Detective Adams is here to see you.”

  Mackenzie closed the book she was reading upon hearing her secretary’s voice. “Thanks, Priscilla. Please send him in.”

  She was standing by the time the door opened and the tall, middle-aged man walked in. Like most detectives that she’d encountered, he wore a serious expression on his face.

  “Ms. Standfield.”

  “Mr. Adams.” She came from around her desk and handshakes were exchanged. She then offered him the chair in front of her desk before returning to her seat.

  “I’ve been assigned to your case, Ms. Standfield, and need to ask you a few questions.”

  “Sure.” She wondered if the discovery that Jake Madaris was her business partner had anything to do with this. Jake’s name carried a lot of weight in this part of the country.

  “You think the incidents, the ones involving the break-in of your office and the poisoning of the cattle, are related?”

  His question had been the same one the sheriff had asked when he’d arrived yesterday. “Yes, but thinking it and proving it are two separate things. I’m an attorney, Mr. Adams, so I know that. The only thing I’m presently certain of is the fact that I’m working on a case that the other party prefers I leave alone. How far they will go to see that happen, I’m not sure.”

  He nodded. “Let’s explore other possibilities.”

  “All right,” she said, although she truly didn’t think there were any.

  “What about a jealous boyfriend? I understand you presently have someone living with you.”

  He’d probably heard that from the sheriff, who had been introduced to Luke. “My present house guest is a friend, and there aren’t any jealous boyfriends because I haven’t been involved in a serious relationship in a number of years, almost five to be exact.”