Round-the-Clock Temptation

by Michelle Celmer

  Connor looked up at Nita, realizing he felt exactly the same way. He couldn’t even explain how he was sure. He only knew that he belonged here, and that whatever he’d been, whatever had happened in his past, didn’t matter anymore.

  “I was going to ask if you’re in love with her, but I think I’ve already got my answer,” Jake said.

  “She doesn’t want a relationship.”

  “So what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to marry her.” He looked up at his brother and grinned. “She just doesn’t know it yet.”

  Nita woke with the length of a very warm, very aroused male body curled behind her. Though she typically liked to sprawl out and hog the bed, Connor liked to spoon. The past couple of nights, she’d begun to grow used to him sleeping with her. Not that he’d given her a choice, considering, once he was in her bed, he wouldn’t leave. Every time she made noise like he should get up and go to his own room, he would start kissing her and touching her and she would forget what she was saying, until he had her so completely exhausted and sexually sated, she didn’t care where he slept. And yeah, okay, she kind of liked waking in his arms, and he didn’t seem to care that she climbed out of bed looking like Frankenstein’s bride.

  She liked watching him while he slept, too. The lines of his face softened and he looked younger. She also liked the way he woke her—with his hands and his mouth in all the places she loved to feel them. Red-hot sex was definitely the best way to start the morning.

  The truth was, there wasn’t too much she didn’t like about sleeping with Connor. Which was all the more reason to put an end to it as soon as possible. She usually thought with her head, but now her heart was starting to dictate the rules and that scared her.

  And she didn’t scare easily.

  She glanced over at the clock, saw that the alarm was set to go off in twenty minutes, and decided she might as well get out of bed. If she waited for the alarm, Connor would wake up and start doing his magic and they wouldn’t get a thing done before lunch.

  She rolled out of bed, shivering as her bare feet hit the cold wood floor. She grabbed the afghan from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around herself then walked over to the window to see what the day would be like—half hoping for torrential rain so she and Connor would have to stay indoors. She pushed the curtains aside and peered out. The sun glowed pink across the horizon and a fine mist of dew covered the ground. Another beautiful day—oh well. Then she looked down at the driveway and saw that the second truck was parked there.

  Five days after her daddy had left, he was finally home. He’d called Saturday and left a message saying he would be gone for a few days, but when he did come home, he and Nita were going to have a talk—meaning she’d been found out. Considering Jane’s car was nowhere to be seen, Nita’s fib obviously hadn’t done any good. She’d been worried sick that something horrible had happened, or that her meddling had only made things worse. What if, instead of going to see Jane, he’d gone to see Lucas Devlin and they’d duked it out?

  She must have left a dozen messages on her daddy’s voice mail, but he hadn’t called her back. She’d even tried calling Jane to see if she’d heard from him, but kept getting her answering machine. Jane either wasn’t there, or was too mad to call her back.

  Now that Will was home, he was going to get a piece of Nita’s mind.

  “Is he home?”

  Nita turned to see Connor sitting up in bed, stretching. She loved the way he looked in the morning, all rumpled and sexy. And he felt even better. “How did you know?”

  “I heard the truck pull in late last night.”

  “You should have woken me.”

  “I tried. You were out cold.” He pulled the covers back, patting the bed beside him. “It’s early, come back to bed.”

  “The alarm is set to go off in less than fifteen minutes. I should get ready for work.”

  “You sure? You’d be amazed what I can do in fifteen minutes.”

  She could think of a dozen reasons not to get back into bed, but her feet carried her there regardless. Another prime example of her heart not listening to her head.

  “Okay, but only fifteen minutes.” She let the afghan slide to the floor and climbed in beside him. Then his hands were on her body, driving her crazy like no one ever had before.

  This was too good she realized, too perfect. And she knew it had to end.

  Later, she decided, as his hot mouth found her nipple. She would worry about it later.

  An hour and a half later Nita headed down the stairs, showered and dressed, ready to have it out with her father. Maybe what she’d done was a little unethical, telling him Jane was in cahoots with a Devlin, but what he’d done was far worse. A man couldn’t just disappear for five whole days and not worry his family sick.

  She stomped her way to his bedroom and pounded on the door. “Daddy, I want to talk to you.”

  Through the door she heard the covers rustling, the sound of hushed voices. She couldn’t believe it. He had someone in there! Had he been so distraught he’d picked up some floosy? Had Nita driven him to it?

  She didn’t know who to be more angry at, him or herself.

  The door opened a crack and her daddy stood there in his robe. “Now isn’t a good time to talk.”

  Well, that was just too damned bad, because she had something to say. “Have you got a woman in there?”

  He looked more exasperated than angry. “If you must know, yes, I do.”

  Nita’s mouth fell open.

  “Don’t look at me like that. I made it legal first.” He wiggled his hand in front of her face, showing off a shiny new wedding band. “We got hitched in Vegas.”

  She was almost too stunned to form words, but somehow she managed. “You’re married?”

  “Yep.”

  This was even worse than she’d thought. They were never going to get Jane back now. And she doubted any wife he picked up in Vegas would know how to run a farm.

  “How do you think Jane is going to feel about this?”

  “Lemme ask her.” He called over his shoulder, “Jane, honey, how do you feel about me getting hitched?”

  “I’d say it’s about time,” Jane called back.

  This time Nita was too stunned to speak.

  “Satisfied?” her daddy asked and Nita nodded numbly. “Then if you don’t mind, I’m going to get back to my bride. I’m a newlywed, you know.”

  The door snapped shut and Nita stood there a good five minutes, letting it all sink in. Her plan had worked. She’d gotten Jane and her daddy back together, just as she’d hoped to. She’d never seen him look so happy and she knew Jane had to be feeling like the luckiest woman alive. It’s all Nita had ever wanted for the both of them, so why did she feel so jumbled up inside?

  She was happy and excited and something else, something darker.

  Then she realized she was jealous. Nita was used to having her daddy all to herself. Now that he was a husband, she would have to share him. What was even worse, though it shamed her to feel this way, she was jealous of their happiness. Jane would be the perfect wife—everything Nita would never be.

  Nita had been this way long enough to know she would never change, even if she tried. But for the first time in her life, deep down, she wished she were different. She wished she could find a man to love her for exactly who she was, someone to start a family with, to spend her life with. At that moment she wanted it so bad it was a sharp ache in her chest.

  And she wanted the man to be Connor.

  Somewhere in the past few weeks, she’d gone and done the one thing she’d promised she would never do. She’d let herself fall in love. And she suspected, from the way he looked at her, the way he touched her, maybe he was falling in love with her, too.

  Nothing could be worse.

  No matter how much she ached for it, she knew it would never work. Men expected certain things from the women they married. They wanted someone to cook and clean and take care of th
em. Things that she couldn’t do. Couldn’t and wouldn’t, because she refused to end up like her momma—so unhappy it killed her. She could never be a proper wife, and that was what Connor deserved.

  There was no way around it, she had to end this thing between herself and Connor, and she had to do it soon. Maybe this morning, before they got in deeper than they already were.

  With a heavy heart, she walked to the kitchen and started fixing a pot of coffee. A few minutes later, when she heard footsteps behind her, she knew it was Connor, and she knew what she had to do.

  “So, did you talk to him?”

  “Yeah, I talked to him.” You can do this, she told herself. It’ll be easy. Just flat out tell him it’s over.

  She forced herself to turn and look at him. He was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, his hair still damp from his shower, his chin cleanly shaved. He looked so good she wanted to cry, and the ache in her chest throbbed even harder. She was so nervous her hands were trembling.

  Nothing about this was going to be easy.

  “Was he mad that you lied about Jane working for the Devlins?”

  “Actually, it never came up. He was too busy telling me how he and Jane ran off to Vegas and got hitched.”

  “No kidding. That’s good news, right?”

  “Yeah, it’s real good.” Just do it. Tell him.

  “How come you don’t sound happy?” There was so much genuine concern in his eyes, she couldn’t stand to look at him a second longer.

  She turned and busied herself with putting the coffee can back in the cupboard. “I am happy for them, I guess it’ll just take a little getting used to.”

  Say it now, she coaxed, when you’re not looking at him. Then Connor’s arms wrapped around her from behind, drawing her against his solid chest. “It’s okay to be confused, or even a little upset,” he said.

  That’s when she knew it was hopeless. She could never do it with him holding her this way, with him being so sweet and understanding.

  She turned in his arms and buried her face against his shirt, so he wouldn’t see the tears welling in her eyes. Maybe just coming right out and telling him wasn’t the way to go, not if she couldn’t force the words out. She didn’t even know what to say.

  There had to be another way to do this.

  She held on tight, wishing she never had to let go.

  “Hey, you all right?” he asked, stroking her back.

  “I’m all right,” she choked out, her tears pushing closer the surface. “Just a little emotional. Must be PMS.”

  “Maybe I ought to take you back upstairs and see if I can’t make you feel better,” he said.

  He tucked his finger under her chin, lifting her face, then he kissed her—so slow and sweet she knew she couldn’t tell him no.

  One more day, she decided. One more day and she’d figure out a way to put an end to this once and for all.

  Fourteen

  Connor watched from the fence as Nita worked with Buttercup in the training pen, wondering what was going on in her head, what she was thinking.

  She looked the same, sounded the same, even acted the same at times, but in the week since her father and Jane had returned, something had changed. At first Connor had written it off as her reaction to her father’s marriage, but he didn’t think that was it.

  He couldn’t even put his finger on what it was exactly that was different. There were times when she would look at him, but he didn’t think she was really seeing him. It was as if her mind was somewhere else, working something through. Other times she looked at him so intensely it was as though she were trying to communicate without actually talking to him.

  Even her temperament seemed to have changed. Most of the time she ran hot or cold. Either she was hopping mad at him or, tearing his clothes off. Sex was different, too. The first few times, even though it was fantastic, she’d had a casual, almost flippant air about her. Lately she’d been putting her heart and soul into it and, though it could have been a trick of the light, sometimes he could swear she had tears in her eyes. She’d given up trying to kick him out of bed at night, too, and slept curled up tight in his arms.

  He knew that if they weren’t careful, someone was going to catch them in a compromising position. He was pretty sure Jane had figured it out as soon as she’d come home, but so far she hadn’t told Will. If she had, Connor would have heard about it. At some point, he was going to have to have a talk with Will so he could make his intensions clear.

  First he’d like to know what was going on in that head of Nita’s. Every time he tried to talk to her about it, she’d start kissing him and taking his clothes off, making it impossible to concentrate on a damned thing. It was just a feeling, but he suspected she had something up her sleeve, and it wasn’t going to be good.

  “She looks good,” he said, as Nita led Buttercup to the gate.

  “She’ll be ready to go home soon,” Nita said. “Probably Monday.”

  “You’ll miss her.”

  She rubbed the horse’s neck. “Yeah, she’s a real gem.”

  “If you’re finished for the afternoon, I thought maybe you and I could take a ride out along the fence line.”

  “Why, did the boys see someone out there last night?”

  “Nope. Just got a feeling.” The truth was, there hadn’t been any disturbances lately. Whoever it was had either given up, or was waiting for the opportune time to strike again. Meaning he had to constantly be on his guard. They had determined that Malcolm had never been to the farm with Gretchen, not that it discounted him as a suspect. The club was keeping an eye on him just in case.

  The real reason Connor wanted Nita out there with him, was so that they could talk. She wouldn’t be able to use her charms to distract him if she was sitting on a horse.

  “Nita,” Jimmy called from the bunkhouse. “You got a minute?”

  Nita handed Buttercup’s reins to Connor. “Take her in the stable and saddle Goliath up.”

  He led Buttercup to the stable as she jogged off to talk to Jimmy. Maybe now he would get some answers from her.

  He’d saddled Goliath, and was getting ready to go find Nita when she walked into the stable, shutting the door behind her. “I’ve almost got them…”

  He trailed off when he looked at Nita, saw the fire in her eyes, the way she was slowly undoing the buttons on her shirt as she walked toward him.

  Aw, hell, not again.

  “I changed my mind,” Nita said. “I don’t want to go riding.”

  He didn’t have to ask what she did want to do. That was pretty clear when she tossed her shirt to the floor then braced her hands on his chest and pushed him against the back wall. She started to unfasten his belt, but he grabbed her hands.

  “Someone could walk in and catch us.”

  She pulled her hands free and cupped the crotch of his jeans. “I guess we’ll just have to make it a quick one.”

  He was about to object, then she started kissing him, and as usual, the rational part of his brain temporarily went AWOL. He was ready to give her whatever she wanted, when he had the sudden sensation they were being watched, then heard someone clear his throat. He opened his eyes to find Will standing in the stable doorway, shaking his head.

  Nita spun around and covered herself with her arms. Thankfully Connor hadn’t gotten as far as removing her bra.

  “Um, hi, Daddy.”

  She didn’t seem too surprised to see him, and Connor got the distinct feeling this was no accident.

  “I came out to tell you that I just talked to your sister and she’s coming home for a while.” Will sighed, shaking his head. “Girl, you are gonna be the death of me.”

  “Sir, this is my fault,” Connor said.

  “I doubt that,” Will said. He looked more resigned than angry. “Do I need to go get my shotgun?”

  “No, Daddy.” Nita bent down and picked up her shirt, holding it against her. “Connor will leave.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Conno
r said.

  Nita turned to him. “I know you feel we need protection, but surely the Cattleman’s Club could send someone else.”

  “No, they can’t,” Connor said.

  She turned back to her father. “He’ll leave, Daddy.”

  “No, I won’t. And my being here has nothing to do with protecting you.”

  Now Will looked intrigued. “If that’s true, then why are you here?

  Since she was so gun-shy Connor had wanted to wait awhile, till the time was right, let her get used to the idea slowly. Too late for that now. “I’ve been planning to have a talk with you. I guess now is as good a time as any. I love your daughter, and I have every intention of marrying her.”

  “Marrying me?” Nita spun to face him, a look of horror on her face. “You have got to be joking.”

  “No joke.”

  “Well, you have my blessing,” Will said.

  Nita shot back around. “Daddy! Don’t encourage him!”

  As if he needed encouraging. And he could see this was going to be a bit tougher than he expected. “Will, could I have a word alone with your daughter?”

  “Sure,” Will said. “And good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

  Didn’t Connor know it. But this time he was getting what he wanted. What she wanted too, even if she wouldn’t admit it.

  When Will was gone, Connor turned to Nita. “Is this how you got rid of the others?”

  She yanked on her shirt. “What others?”

  “The other men. When they start to get too close you set up a confrontation with your father so he can chase them off? Because I know it was no accident he happened to walk into the stable. You knew he was coming. That’s why you threw yourself at me.”

  She didn’t say a word, just gave him a death glare.

  “It would have made for a tidy little end to this affair, wouldn’t it? And you thought I’d take off with my tail between my legs.”

  “Which I can see you’re not going to do. And who the hell ever said anything about marriage?”

  “Me. Just now.”

  “You don’t want to marry me.”

  “I believe I just said I do.”