The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

by Sherryl Woods

  She wrestled with the offer. Eventually, longing and a deep sense of inevitability overcame doubt. With Jenny staying at Cody’s overnight, there might never be another opportunity like this one.

  She reached up and covered his hands with her own. Her gaze locked with his. “If I stay here tonight, it will be with you.”

  Rather than seeming relieved, he tensed as questions darkened his eyes. “If? You aren’t seriously thinking of driving back into town, are you?”

  She tilted her head. A smile tugged at her lips at the stark disappointment in his expression. She had another alternative in mind, one with which she was far more comfortable.

  “I was thinking I’d have you take me,” she said. She lowered her voice to a coaxing note. “My house might be a half hour from here, but it is totally deserted.” Unspoken was the fact that there would be no ghosts in the bed or prying family members down the hall.

  The tension in his shoulders eased the instant he caught her meaning. “Well, why didn’t you say so?” he said, grinning. “I’ll get my car keys.”

  “Mine are in my purse,” she said, already reaching for them and handing them over. “Besides, with only my car parked out front, no one will ever guess you’re there. No gossip.”

  “Better yet.”

  They rounded the house, laughing like a couple of kids sneaking off to make out. Harlan gunned the engine in a way that would have had Mule sulking for a month about his disrespect for what the mechanic had declared to be an almost-classic car.

  Then he shot down the lane and away from White Pines as if he’d been celibate for a decade and had finally discovered he was about to get lucky. Janet found his eagerness both touching and very arousing.

  The drive into Los Piños seemed to take an eternity, especially after Harlan placed her hand on his rock-hard thigh and covered it with his own. So much heat, she thought as her senses spun wildly. So much strength. So much barely contained passion.

  His blatant desire fueled hers, until by the time they reached her house, the last of her uncertainties had been stripped away. They rushed through her front door, barely taking the time for Harlan to kick it shut behind him before he dragged her into his arms. He kissed her with all of the pent-up hunger that had been held in check on the dance floor, on the long drive and for who knew how long before.

  The kiss was commanding and all-consuming, wiping out every thought except for some primitive understanding of its wicked effect on her senses. Never in her life had she experienced such raw, untamed lust. She was suddenly trembling from head to toe with anticipation.

  She was fumbling with the buttons on Harlan’s shirt just as urgently as he was stripping away the blouse they’d searched all over Dallas to find just yesterday. Then his mouth was covering first one breast, then the other, teasing, suckling in a way that sent shock waves ricocheting through her.

  His skin was on fire beneath her touch, but her own was hotter. The caress of his tongue cooled, then inflamed, then cooled again in a devastating cycle. A moan of pure pleasure escaped, shattering their previously silent, passionate duet.

  The sound brought his head up, leaving her feeling bereft. As if he had suddenly found his bearings, he tucked her tightly against his chest and sucked in a deep, calming breath.

  “Whoa, darlin’,” he murmured softly, as if gentling a skittish mare.

  “No,” she pleaded. “Don’t stop.”

  He chuckled at the urgency in her tone. “I will not make love to you on the floor in the foyer,” he said. “Not that I’m entirely sure I can get us both out of this tangle we’ve made of our clothes and into the bedroom.”

  If that was the only delay, Janet was more than willing to help. She shucked what was left of her clothing, kicked it aside and headed down the hallway stark naked. Only when she realized Harlan hadn’t followed did she turn back. He was staring after her, looking stunned. The thoroughly masculine appreciation in his eyes made her knees go weak.

  “You take my breath away,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

  “Ditto,” she said in a voice only faintly louder. “If you get over here, though, I’ll give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

  Amusement danced in his eyes at that. “You certified?”

  “No,” she admitted, then grinned. “I’ll need lots and lots of practice.”

  Practically before the words were out of her mouth, he had joined her, scooping her up and carrying her into the bedroom with long, anxious strides.

  “Then by all means, let’s get to it,” he said, lowering her to the bed, then settling down beside her atop the thick comforter.

  The break had allowed just enough time for ardor to cool. To Janet’s astonishment, it took little more than a sweeping caress of her bare hip with callused fingers to return it to a fever pitch.

  But Harlan was clearly in no hurry now that they’d made it this far. He seemed intent on making each response linger, then build to a shattering crescendo before trying something new. In her head, Janet knew that this was the same body she’d lived with all her life, but under his gentle, tormenting ministrations it seemed entirely new and heart-stoppingly responsive.

  She was filled with astonishment over each exquisite, devastating sensation. And when every nerve was vibrantly alive, when he finally, at long last, entered her with a slow, tantalizing thrust, she felt as if she’d finally discovered the true meaning of joy.

  As their bodies played out this timeless ritual, over and over through the night, perfecting it, elaborating on it, exploring its every nuance, she wondered if she’d ever been alive before she met Harlan Adams or if she’d just been existing in some half-awake state, waiting for this moment.

  Discovering such passion deep within herself should have been exhilarating, but in the silvery, moonlit darkness just before dawn broke she was overcome by an agony of indecision. She tried to compare these new, barely tested feelings for the man sprawled out half on top of her, his hand possessively circling her breast, with older loyalties to the grandfather she had adored.

  If there hadn’t been such a history in her family of mistakes, of choosing mates so unwisely, perhaps she could have reached a different decision. But neither her father nor her first husband had understood this gut-deep need she had to discover the Comanche side of her heritage. She doubted Harlan would be any different, especially when he realized that part of that discovery meant righting a century-old wrong if there was any legal means at all to do so.

  Sighing, she resolved that this night would never be repeated. She knew with everything in her that it was a decision Harlan would never understand, one he would fight with all of his incomparable powers of persuasion. She also knew it was the only one she could make.

  And knowing that broke her heart.

  * * *

  Harlan was the kind of man who usually snapped awake in an instant. He’d never had much interest in lingering in bed when there were chores to do and a ranch to run. Maybe the trait had been born of necessity decades ago, but it had become a habit he’d had no reason to break, not even when the whole day stretched out emptily ahead of him.

  This morning, though, he seemed to be easing back into consciousness, sensation by sensation. First it was the heat that tugged at his senses. Then it was the sweet, sweet smell of some light-as-air flowery scent, layered with an undertone of dark, musky sensuality. And then, dear heaven, it was the soft-as-satin brush of skin against skin, a teasing caress that had his blood pumping so hard and fast he thought his heart might flat-out explode in his chest.

  That woke him, all right! His eyes snapped open to gaze straight into sleepy, dark eyes that struck him as far more troubled than they ought to be after such an incredible night.

  “You’re looking mighty serious,” he said, brushing Janet’s hair back over her shoulders so he could drink his fill of the sight of those rose-tipped breasts. The peaks pebbled at once, even under such an off-hand caress. He might have lingered longer, intensified his touch, had
Janet’s gaze not seemed so fraught with worry.

  “Regrets?” he asked.

  “None,” she swore.

  Harlan wasn’t convinced. “You sure?”

  “I could never regret what happened between us last night,” she said more firmly.

  Though he was still doubtful, he decided he’d just have to take her at her word. “Then I think we ought to talk about making it permanent.”

  This time there was no mistaking the alarm that flared in her eyes.

  “No,” she whispered, touching a finger to his lips. “Please, don’t say any more.”

  He couldn’t take rejection so easily, not when he had his heart set on spending his future with this woman, not when he knew without a trace of doubt that deep inside that was what she wanted, too. He suspected he even knew what was preventing her from accepting his proposal.

  “You don’t even want me saying that I love you?” he said, keeping his tone light. “You don’t want to hear that I won’t settle for anything less than making you my wife, not after last night?”

  A tear slid slowly down her cheek, even as she declined his proposal for a second time.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  “Of course you can,” he insisted just as adamantly. “There’s nothing to stop you, except some foolish willfulness on your part.”

  He knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that they had been exactly the wrong thing to say. Whatever she was struggling with—and he was certain now that he knew what it was—he shouldn’t have dismissed it as foolish or willful. A milewide stubborn streak would kick in over words like that. His own certainly would have.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he apologized at once.

  “No,” she said stiffly, retreating as far from him in the bed as she could and surrounding herself with layers of covers despite the room’s more than comfortable temperature. “You shouldn’t have.”

  Because he needed time to rein in his temper, Harlan stood and searched for his pants. When he’d yanked them on, he returned to sit opposite her on the edge of the bed.

  “Can we discuss this?”

  “I don’t see why you’d want to,” she said dully.

  “Because this is too important for you to leap to a snap decision that could affect the rest of both of our lives, to say nothing of Jenny’s,” he explained, fighting to keep his tone even. “You know I care for her as if she were one of my own. You also know I’ve been a good influence on her.”

  She shot him a stubborn scowl. “I’m not going to get married again because Jenny needs a father.”

  “Then how about because you need a husband who loves you, almost as much as I need a wife who’ll make me feel alive the way you did in this bed last night, the way you have every day since we met? Can you deny you felt the same way?”

  “No, of course not. I would never lie to you about something that important,” she told him. “But I came here to find myself. You’re such a strong man. From all I’ve heard, your first wife doted on you. You were her first and only priority. I’m afraid I’d turn out to be just like her, that I’d lose myself in being Mrs. Harlan Adams, rather than Janet Runningbear, a Comanche lawyer in search of her roots.”

  “It’s the last that’s important, isn’t it?” he said, experiencing the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth. “It’s this thing you have about your great-grandfather.”

  Her gaze narrowed. “What if it is?”

  “Why don’t you tell me what really brought you to Texas?” he commanded.

  Her gaze faltered. “I’ve told you a hundred different ways,” she said. “You haven’t been listening.”

  “You want to know what I hear? I hear you denying yourself a future you want because of some crazy notion that won’t ever pan out the way you want it to.”

  She frowned at that. “Don’t be so certain of that, Harlan. There’s very little I can’t accomplish if I set my mind to it. I won’t let you or my feelings for you stand in my way. I can’t allow that to happen. I will never be like Mary, so you might as well accept that and move on.”

  It was quite likely the only argument she might have made that he didn’t have a ready answer for. Words were too easy for a fear like that, especially when he couldn’t deny that Mary had given up a part of herself the day she became his wife.

  He resigned himself to taking a little time to show Janet that that had been Mary’s choice, not his. He was ready and eager to have a strong and independent woman at his side. He was no young kid who’d mistake independence of spirit with a lack of love.

  Patience, unfortunately, was not one of his virtues. More, he suspected that that would solve only part of the problem. Janet was still struggling with her conscience over her desire to get her hands on the land that she felt had belonged to her ancestors.

  Until she could tell him about that herself, until they could work it through together, it would always stand between them and happiness. She’d almost said the words a moment ago, he was sure of it, but something had kept her silent. Whether it was fear of his reaction or a desire not to hurt him, he couldn’t be sure.

  “Okay,” he said eventually. “I’ll let it slide for now, if I must.”

  He walked around to the other side of the bed where she still sat huddled under the covers. He determinedly tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up until their eyes clashed.

  “But I won’t give up on us. I’ll pester you until you see what I see, that we belong together.”

  A clearly reluctant smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “That ought to scare the hell out of me,” she said, then gave a little shrug of resignation. “But for some crazy reason, it doesn’t.”

  “That’s because you know I’m right,” he said with satisfaction.

  “I do not,” she insisted.

  “Argue all you want, but the end result will still be the same,” he informed her. “Now get dressed so we can sneak back to White Pines before the whole gang figures out we’re missing.”

  “It would serve you right,” she muttered as she strolled off to the shower. “You’re the one they’d taunt unmercifully. They’re very polite to me.”

  “They won’t be, once they know you’re going to be family.”

  “I am not going to be…” she shouted, then sighed audibly. “Oh, never mind.”

  Harlan grinned as the bathroom door slammed behind her. Yes, indeed, no matter what she thought, no matter what kind of struggle she put up, it was only a matter of time.

  * * *

  Facing the entire Adams clan around the breakfast table—except for the youngest babies, who were being watched upstairs—was a heck of a lot more intimidating than their first meeting had been, Janet decided after several awkward minutes ticked by. Their fascinated gazes kept shifting from her to Harlan and back again. Only Jenny and the older grandchildren seemed oblivious to the undercurrents. Their unrestrained chatter was all that made the situation bearable.

  The minute everyone had finished eating, Harlan said, “I had Consuela’s brother put up the wading pool out back. Jenny, why don’t you take the little ones out to play in that and keep an eye on them?”

  Jenny surveyed him speculatively. “My usual rates?”

  “Yes, you little entrepeneur,” he said with contradictory fondness. “I’ll pay you your usual rates.”

  “Great! I’ll be able to buy more CDs, if we ever get to a town with a decent music store,” she said with a pointed look in Janet’s direction.

  “Maybe next weekend,” Janet replied distractedly. She was too worried about the inquisitive expressions on Cody’s, Jordan’s and Luke’s faces to pay much attention to Jenny’s normal grumbling about the lack of shopping in Los Piños.

  The reply seemed to satisfy her daughter, because she took off readily with the younger children.

  “Well?” Luke said, his gaze fixed on his father.

  Harlan tried to stare him down. “Well, what?”
/>   “Isn’t there something you two want to tell us?”

  “No,” Harlan and Janet replied in chorus.

  Luke and Jessie exchanged a look filled with amusement that was promptly caught by the others.

  “You know something, don’t you?” Cody guessed. “Come on, big brother, share.”

  Harlan’s gaze narrowed. “I don’t know what you think you know, Lucas,” he said, “but if you’ve got any decency in you, you’ll keep it to yourself.”

  “He has a point,” Jessie said, laughter dancing in her eyes. “I mean, we don’t know for sure where they were going when they went sneaking off in the middle of the night.”

  Janet groaned and buried her face in her hands, sure that her complexion must be a fiery shade of red. “That’s it. I’m out of here,” she declared, shoving her chair back and practically racing from the room.

  “Now look what you’ve done,” Harlan chided, sending his own chair scooting across the floor with a clatter. “When I get back, I want you out of here. Maybe the whole blasted lot of you ought to think about moving to Arizona or Montana, anywhere that’s far away from here.”

  If she hadn’t been so embarrassed, Janet might have chuckled at his blustery tone. As it was, she just wanted to disappear herself. She was already outside when he caught up with her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “You know what big mouths they have. I told you so myself before we came back here this morning.”

  “It’s not that,” she said miserably. “It’s just so sweet the way they tease you. I know they wouldn’t do that, if they didn’t want something to happen between you and me. I feel as if I’m letting all of you down.”

  “Only for the moment,” he reminded her with that trace of stubbornness that proved he still hadn’t accepted that her no meant an emphatic no.

  She lifted her chin and leveled a look straight into his eyes. “No, Harlan. Not just for the moment. I meant what I said back at my house. There is no future for us, not unless you mean it to be no more than friendship.”