TIS THE SEASON...FOR ROMANCE (WESTMORELAND/MASTERS/JEFFERIES)

by Jackson, Brenda

  As he sat there waiting on his food, he glanced across the room where three women were sitting at a table. Two of the three were openly staring and had been since the moment he’d walked in. They were probably tourists and although they looked pretty decent enough, he wasn’t interested. Not tonight anyway.

  It wouldn’t be the first time a group of women got together and made their way to Yellowstone to check out the park as well as any man they thought they could pick up. He’d had to turn down a number of offers during his lifetime, and he’d admit to accepting a few.

  He took another sip of his coffee and shifted his thoughts away from the women and back to Thorn. If anyone had told Corey six months ago that come June, Thorn Westmoreland would be a married man he would not have believed them. But the wedding a few weeks ago had confirmed it. And it was pretty damn evident Thorn loved his wife Tara.

  Now Corey could claim two married nephews and there were many more single ones to go. Stone was the next oldest of John and Elizabeth’s offspring, but the only thing on Stone’s mind these days was penning his next adventure novel under the pseudonym Rock Mason.

  Corey had gotten a call from Durango a few days ago saying Stone would be coming for a visit. The boy was probably feeling the heat now that his two older brothers had gotten married and was hoping no one took a notion that he would be next.

  And Corey figured you sure as hell could forget about Storm and Durango ever settling down. He wasn’t sure which of the two were worse in the womanizing department. Storm had acquired quite a reputation on the east coast and Durango had carved out a name for himself in the Rockies.

  Joe delivered the food in a timely manner and Martha came out of the kitchen long enough to give him a huge hug and to hear all about Thorn’s wedding. Everyone knew that in addition to being a good cook, Martha was also a romantic. More than once she’d tried fixing him up with a woman, but everyone in these parts knew that although Corey might date women, none would set foot on his mountain –unless she was a relative. They never understood why, they just accepted it as being the gospel. Of course, some women saw it as a challenge and had tried just about everything to get up there; to claim being the first. But they’d failed miserably.

  He shifted his gaze back over to the table where those same two women were still staring. That made him curious about the third one who hadn’t bothered to glance his way. He couldn’t see her facial features since her back was to him, but there was something about her that snagged his attention, and as he continued to stare at her back, he suddenly felt a deep stirring in his gut.

  He decided to examine with care the features he could see whenever she glanced over at the person sitting beside her. Her dark hair was tied in bun and her complexion was of creamy cocoa. If only she would turn around so he could see her face. He was suddenly filled with a need to see if …

  He pulled in a deep breath and shook his head thinking he was going crazy. He had thought about Abby so much lately that now he was beginning to imagine things. There was no way that woman sitting across the room could be Abby. But then…why was he feeling things he’d only felt around her? Things he hadn’t felt in years?

  He shook his head and began eating, determined to put the stupid notion out of his head and enjoy his meal. He would stay over at Durango’s place tonight and head back up the mountain sometime tomorrow after visiting with Martin and Morning Star.

  He and Martin had become best friends and roommates while in college, and now Martin was a retired judge who spent his days fishing, hunting and living for their Thursday night poker game.

  A short while later, after completing his meal Corey wiped his mouth, pushed his plate aside and his gaze was automatically drawn to the table where the three women sat. The two were still staring over at him. And again it was the third one who wasn’t paying him any attention that aroused his curiosity.

  “You want anything else, Corey?”

  He glanced up at Joe and then back over to where the women sat and made up his mind about something. He wouldn’t embarrass himself by approaching their table, not wanting to give them the wrong idea about anything, but if he had to sit here and drank coffee for a while, at least until they finally got up and left then he would. Like him they had finished their meals and were drinking coffee. He was sitting not far from the door and they would have to pass by his table on their way out.

  He was determined to find out why he was attracted to a woman whose face he couldn’t even see.

  * * *

  “Don’t look now but that good looking man is still here and he’s staring over here at us.” Sheila said leaning close to the table and whispering.

  Abby took a sip of her coffee and glanced over at her friend and smiled. Sheila and Jackie had noticed the man the moment he had walked into the restaurant. “And your point?” she asked.

  Sheila rolled her eyes. “Since you’re the only single one among us, I’d think you’d make it your point to check him out. I can’t believe you aren’t curious enough to even sneak a peek at him. He looks to be in his early fifties, and is handsome and sexy. We’ve been here for twelve days and I think he’s the best looking thing I’ve seen yet.”

  “I’m still not interested,” Abby said, rolling her eyes before taking another sip of her coffee.

  “You wouldn’t know unless you looked,” Jackie chuckled and said. “Besides, I think you should move on from Ron Carmichael. There’s nothing there between the two of you. Whenever you go out with him the two of you look like the odd couple.”

  Abby didn’t say anything, but Jackie didn’t have to tell her that regarding her and Larry’s former business partner. Usually, when she went to social functions she would attend with Ron, a widower. What Sheila and Jackie didn’t know was that Ron was gay. It was a secret he had shared with her and Larry years ago and she wouldn’t tell Ron’s secret to anyone.

  “Well, he’s still looking over here,” Sheila was saying.

  “Let him look,” Abby said, suddenly feeling annoyed with her two friends. They had tried fixing her up with men before and would get frustrated because the men they were attracted to did nothing for her.

  “Don’t look now but he’s getting up. Look how he fills out those jeans. I think he’s going to the men’s room or is about to leave. He’s still looking over here at our table,” Jackie was saying, and all but drooling while talking.

  “Mercy!” Sheila was saying, beneath her breath. “Look how tall he is and those dark brown eyes. And I usually don’t go for a man with a moustache, but he is definitely a handsome devil. I can’t say that enough.”

  Tall and handsome with dark brown eyes and a moustache. Abby placed her coffee cup down when she suddenly felt a tingling sensation in her fingers and then in the pit of her stomach. Blood rushed fast and furious through her veins and goose bumps began forming on her arms. Something stirred within her and she pulled in several deep breaths.

  She suddenly felt fearful of what she might find if she finally broke down and checked out the man Sheila and Jackie had been discussing all through dinner. There was only one man who could tap into her passionate side. A man who was tall and handsome with dark brown eyes and a moustache.

  What if …

  She slowly turned her head and the moment her gaze collided with the man’s dark, intense eyes, her breath hitched and she fought the urge to moan his name out loud from deep within her throat. But nothing could stop her entire body from responding to the intensity of his gaze as if it was a personal caress to every part of her.

  “Abby, are you okay?”

  She broke eye contact with him and quickly stood up. “Yes, I’m fine, but I do need to go outside for a moment to get some fresh air.”

  Sheila grinned. “Hey, trust me, I understand He took my breath away as well. If only I wasn’t married.”

  Abby barely heard her friend’s last words as she made her way to the exit door, and she knew that Corey Westmoreland would soon follow.

  F
our

  Abby was waiting when he walked through the door.

  Corey met her gaze and reacting on primal instinct and sexual chemistry combined, they quickly moved to a darkened area of the porch. As if thirty-two years hadn’t stood between them, he drew her into his arms. She came willingly. No questions. No resistance. It was as if this moment for them was meant to be. Needed to be captured.

  The moment their lips touched passion exploded and a burning need to mesh into every aspect of her ripped through Corey. He fought for control but found he didn’t have any. All he could think about was that this was the woman he’d loved for thirty-two years. This was the woman he still loved. The woman he had pined for and the only woman capable of releasing his inner passion in a way that stripped him of the ability to think logically.

  Here he was kissing another man’s wife like he had ever right to do so and she was letting him. He forced his thoughts off the man she’d married and back to the man she actually belonged to. Him. He’d never been one to encroach on any man’s territory, but with Abby she was his, had always been his and would always be his, regardless of whom she was married to.

  When they heard a noise behind them they pulled apart when a couple walked out the restaurant. No one noticed them standing in the shadows and after the couple passed they stared at each other while trying to get their erratic breathing under control.

  The glow of the moon spilled across the landscape and provided only a small amount of light where they stood. He thought she looked so prim and proper standing there in her pretty dress and the shawl wrapped around her shoulders. And he thought the same thing now that he had that first day he’d first set eyes on her. She was utterly beautiful.

  An intense expression burned in Corey’s eyes and Abby felt it more than she saw it. She didn’t want to think about her behavior just now when they’d kissed, but knew she had to do so. It was so unlike her to act so unladylike and wanton. She had let him kiss her for heaven’s sake. And she had kissed him back! What was there about this man that even now after thirty-two years, he had the ability to tap into a side of her that no other man could touch? Corey could make her feel things, crave things and desire things. He could make her become a totally different woman where she would shed her dignified refined side and become Corey Westmoreland’s woman in a way that would scandalize all those who knew her.

  Sheila and Jackie were right. He was handsome and sexy. Always had been and still was. The years had been good to him. There was the neatly trimmed curly black hair that was now tinged with a touch of grey at the temples; his high cheekbones; full lips; chiseled jaw and beautiful chestnut colored skin. She continued to stand there knowing he was studying her like she was studying him.

  She was no longer the eighteen-year-old he’d met that summer. Although she had kept in shape, was constantly told she didn’t look her age, she was nonetheless now fifty. But still, he had recognized her like she had recognized him. And he still desired her like she desired him. It sounded crazy but it was true.

  “You’re still beautiful, Abby. God, you are beautiful.”

  She pulled in a deep breath. His words, as profound as they could get, nearly brought tears to her eyes. This tall, dark handsome hulk of a man had a tenderness about him that he’d always displayed around her. “You’re still beautiful, too, Corey.”

  He smiled at that. “Remember, I told you men aren’t beautiful.”

  He had told her that several times and she refused to listen then and she refused to listen now.

  “And how is your husband?”

  He asked in a soft, husky voice and the sound made the pulse at the base of her throat throb. “Larry died ten years ago.”

  He lifted a brow as his eyes locked with hers. “Ten years ago?”

  “Yes.”

  She paused and then asked. “What about you? Whenever I thought of you over the years I imagined you’d gotten married and had a bunch of kids and grands by now.”

  He almost smiled at that, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes when he said. “I never married and I don’t have any children.”

  His words sent her mind in a tailspin. Her brain cells seem to scatter with his words and she knew a look of disbelief covered her face. “You never married?” she asked in an incredulous voice.

  “No.”

  And all these years she’d figured he had. He was everything a woman could have wanted. He was everything she had wanted. But…

  “It’s so good seeing you again, Corey. A part of me can’t believe it.”

  A part of Corey couldn’t believe it either, and he was afraid if he blinked she would disappear. “Look, I know you need to get back inside before your friends start to worry, but is there a way for us to talk after you finish eating this evening? If you tell me where you’re staying I can drop by. If that’s okay?”

  ”Yes, it’s okay. I’m staying at a villa at the Silver Arrow Dude Ranch, and usually I take a walk at night around the area.”

  “Can I join you in your walk tonight?”

  She smiled. “Yes. I’m in villa 510 and I’ll be waiting, Corey.” And then she stood on tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips before turning to quickly go back inside.

  * * *

  Abby answered the door the moment Corey knocked on it. Both Sheila and Jackie had decided to take advantage of the conservatory tour where through a telescope they could get a nighttime viewing of those elusive Yellowstone wolves. They had tried getting her to come along but she had talked her way out of it.

  She hadn’t mentioned anything about Corey to them. The last thing she wanted was to go into any details about him. And if they knew that Corey was the same man at the restaurant, they would have canceled their outing tonight to hang back and flirt with him. Those two could get totally outrageous at times. Tonight she needed Corey to herself to find out what had been going on in his life for the past thirty-two years. Specifically, she wanted to know why he never married.

  “Corey.”

  “Abby.”

  He looked around her. “Where are your two friends?”

  “They went out tonight to the conservatory, hoping to get a glimpse of those Yellowstone wolves,” she said, stepping onto the porch and closing the door behind her.

  They began moving down the walkway toward the lake and from the light of the moon overhead, Corey also noticed she’d put her hair down and had changed into a pair of slacks and a top. Because the night air was rather cool even for June, she was wearing a jacket.

  “You look pretty tonight,” Corey said.

  She smiled up at him. “Thanks.”

  “That doesn’t mean you didn’t look pretty earlier,” Corey decided to clarify.

  She chuckled. “Thanks again.”

  As they continued walking in the direction of the lake he said, “This reminds me of that summer.” Others were out strolling about but he didn’t care. He could only concentrate on the woman at his side.

  When they reached the lake, they sat down on one of the benches. Lanterns were lit giving the courtyard a romantic air. He turned to her. “So, am I a secret from your friends?”

  Abby was almost embarrassed to admit that she had deliberately not told Sheila and Jackie about him, but not for the reasons he thought. “I’ve known Sheila and Jackie and their husbands for years. The reason I didn’t introduce you to them is because -”

  “You don’t have to explain, Abby.”

  “Yes, I do. I don’t want you to think that after thirty-two years I’m still sneaking around to see you.”

  “So tell me what’s been going on with you over the years,” he said quickly, as if to move on to another topic.

  Abby knew that no matter what excuse she gave regarding not telling her friends about him, he would recall how they’ve spent two weeks together years before and she had to sneak around to do it, deliberately keeping him hidden from her parents.

  She settled back against the bench and decided to move on and answer his quest
ion. “Last year I retired as a hospital administrator and opened Abby’s Manor, a day care facility for the elderly. I leave the day-to-day management of it to my efficient staff and it gives me a chance to do a lot of fundraising for a number of charities I’m involved with. I enjoy that.”

  She glanced over at him and asked. “What about you? Are you still a park ranger?”

  He chuckled. “No, I retired last year. Now I spend my time there.” He tilted his head back and pointed upward. “Up on that mountain.”

  She tiled her head back and followed the direction of his finger and couldn’t see much in the darkened sky. But she did see the peak of a mountain that seemed to kiss the tip of the moon. “You live on a mountain?”

  “Yes, that’s Corey’s Mountain. It was a major investment but I wanted it and I worked hard for it. I leased a place in the lowlands to stay in while working as a ranger and would only travel home to the mountain on my days off. I love it there.”

  “But doesn’t it get lonely?”

  He met her gaze. “Yes, it gets lonely.”

  She didn’t say anything else for a while and then asked. “And you remained here in Montana all those years working at Yellowstone?”

  “No, I thought I needed a change and moved to Tennessee for a while and worked as a park ranger there,” he said. “But I discovered how much I missed Montana and moved back after a couple of years. It helped when Durango, one of my nephews from Atlanta, decided he wanted to follow in my footsteps and become a park ranger. He moved out here for college, and later became employed at Yellowstone.”

  She smiled. “So how many nephews do you have now? When we were together I think there were only five– Dare, Thorn and Jared. Spencer and Stone were still in diapers.”

  He chuckled. “You remember that? Even their names after all this time?”

  “Yes. You were a proud uncle and talked about them often.”

  He leaned back on the bench. “I’m still a proud uncle and there are six others who came later. And I finally got a niece. Her name is Delaney and she’s twenty-seven.”